Shivpal Singh becomes second Javelin thrower to quality for Tokyo 2020 Olympics from India

As the 2020 Summer Olympics makes its approach, athletes from India are successfully securing their berths for the main event in Tokyo. Although, there was only one Javelin thrower from the country, Neeraj Chopra, who made it through the qualifier to earn his place for the Olympics, until now. Another Javelin thrower from the has just made it through the qualifiers to register as the second Indian to enter the event, and its none other than 2019 Asian Athletics Championships silver medallist Shivpal Singh.

At the ACNW League Meeting Olympic qualifier, which was hosted at the McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Tuesday, Shivpal Singh managed to beat the qualifier mark, which earned him his maiden Olympic entry.

Hailing from Varanasi, Shivpal threw a distance of 85.47 metres, beating the Olympic qualification mark of 85 metres. Although failing to cross the 80 metre mark in his first three attempts, and coming little short of 85 in his fourth, Shivpal’s fifth attempt was just enough to beat the minimum distance that was required to earn his ticket to Tokyo.

However, Shivpal’s personal best is still 86.23 metres, which he achieved in his silver clinching at the 2019 Asian Championships in Doha.

The 24 year old, who is currently under the coaching of legendary German javelin thrower Uwe Hohn, also won a gold medal at the 2019 Military World Games which was hosted in Wuhan, China.

Yesterday, Indian sports minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted about Shivpal’s qualification, congratulation the thrower for his remarkable achievement. Rijiju wrote: “Good news from track and field as #ShivpalSingh qualifies for #Tokyo2020 in men’s javelin throw after an effort of 85.47m at the ACNW League Meeting in South Africa. Qualification mark was 85m. Congratulations Shival!”

 “It feels really, really great to finally get the monkey off the back. The pressure of qualifying is finally gone and it’s a big relief,” Shivpal said in an interview with Sportstar after the qualifier.

Earning an Olympic berth for the first time will prove to be a huge confidence booster for Shivpal, as he had earlier failed to make it to the final round of the World Athletics Championships last year.

He continued: “I had expected to do this long back but a combination of events and circumstances meant I had to wait for so long, but better now than never.”

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