India’s Vikas Gowda became only the seventh Indian to qualify for the finals of the track and field event at the Olympic Games when he hurled the disc to 65.20 metres for an automatic selection.
Vikas Gowda, who trains in the US, breached the 65m mark in his second attempt, having managed a throw of 63.52 m in his first throw.
The automatic qualification standard for the discus final was set at 65m.
Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi was just behind Vikas Gowda with a throw of 65.19m.
The finals will be held tomorrow at 07:45pm local time (Wednesday morning 12.15am IST).
Vikas Gowda is also only the second Indian to make the finals in track and field at the ongoing Games after Krishna Poonia, who eventually finished seventh in women’s discus throw.
The other five Indians to make it to the final round of Olympic Games’ track and field events are Milkha Singh (400m), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (110m hurdles), Sriram Singh (800m), P T Usha (400m hurdles) and Anju Bobby George (Long Jump).