Manpreet Kaur (born 6 July 1990) is an Indian professional Olympic

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

ter. Born in

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab (India), Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala ...

, her gold-medal winning performance of 18.86m at the 2017 Asian Grand Prix in Jinhua, China turned out to be a world-leading throw, taking her to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. Kaur was qualified to represented India at Summer Olympics at Rio

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

in shot put.

Early life

Kaur is the eldest of three siblings. When she was 13 years old, her father passed away. Her mother was paralyzed in 2006. She developed an interest in athletics through father and her cousins who were also into sports. One of her cousins was a university-level 100m sprinter and other is a

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

er, while her sister-in-law was also a shot putter. She initially trained for a year in the 100m, but her brother whom she trained under felt she would do better in shot put and she switched. She hails from Sahauli village from Patiala and works at the Indian Railways.

Career

Kaur placed 9th in the 5th IAAF World Youth Championships in 2007 at Ostrova. In 2010, she took a 3-year hiatus and returned to break an 18-year-old national record in women's shot put. In 2015, she won the

Gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

scoring a 17.96m throw at the 55th National Open Athletics Championship at

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

2016 Summer Olympics

Kaur was the only Indian woman to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016 in her field.

Asian Grand Prix Athletics

Kaur clinched a gold in the first leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics Meet with a national record and world season-leading effort. She set the national record with her best throw of 18.86m. With this performance, she also qualified for the IAAF World Championships to be held in August in London. The entry standard for women's shot put in the World Championships stands at 17.75m.

Asian Athletics Championship

Kaur later took the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championship 2017 in

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

in July.

Suspension

Kaur was tested positive for steroids four times in 2017. She began serving a 4 year period of suspension beginning July 20, 2017, and as a consequence she had to forfeit her gold medals and national record.

Personal

She is married to Karamjeet Singh, a university level shot putter who is also her trainer. The couple have a daughter(Jasnoor Kaur).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaur, Manpreet Indian female shot putters 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Sportswomen from Punjab, India Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for India Living people 1990 births People from Patiala district Athletes from Punjab, India Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India Commonwealth Games athletes for India South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in athletics Asian Athletics Championships winners Asian Athletics Championships medalists