National Open Athletics Championships | Annu Rani clinches gold in javelin throw

It was an easy outing for Annu Rani in the women’s javelin throw final at the National Open Athletics at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi. Earlier this month, she had set the national record of 62.43m to enter the women’s javelin throw final at the World Championships in Doha. After opening the final with a throw of 56.97m, the 25-year-old javelin thrower got 55.97, 58.31, 57.29 and 56.86 before her best throw of 58.60m.

Rani’s teammate Sharmila finished at second place in the final and her best effort of 53.28m came on her third throw. Poonam Rani of Haryana bagged the bronze medal in the same event. 

In the other final event of the day, Suresh Kuma of the ONGC won the men’s 10000m race by clocking 29 minutes 41.25 seconds. Meanwhile, Jinson Johnson and Ajay Kumar Saroj won their men’s 1500m heats to qualify for the summit race. MP Jabir and Ayyasamy Dharun (Tamil Nadu) also won their respective heats. World University Games champion Dutee Chand was the fastest in the women’s 100m semi-finals qualifiers with a timing of 11.55 seconds in the heats.