Athletics World Championships | Annu Rani breaks own national record, seals Olympics berth
Ace Indian javelin thrower Annu Rani produced the performance of her life on Monday when she threw a whopping 62.43m, which not only broke her own previous national record but also sealed her a place in Tokyo next year. In other events, both Archana Suseentran and Anjali Devi failed to make the cut.
Rani was clubbed in Group A of the event and her best effort only came in the second of her three attempts in the qualification round at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha. It was the third best effort for her but the fifth best overall. Rani’s last national record was 62.34m set in Patiala.
The automatic qualification mark of 63.50m wasn’t cleared by anyone in Group A and only two in Group B, and with the top 12 athletes qualifying for final, Rani made the cut quite easily for the finale on Tuesday. Rani’s first and third attempts were 57.05m and 60.50m.
The 27-year-old consequently became the first Indian woman ever to reach the javelin throw final at the IAAF Athletics World Championships. It was in March earlier this year that Rani had bettered her national record to win the gold medal and qualify for both the Asian and World Championships through the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships in Patiala.
In other events, while Seseentran was eliminated in the preliminary round itself of women’s 200m as she clocked 23.65 seconds to come eighth, Anjali Devi finished seventh with a timing of 52.33s (PB: 51.53) in women’s 400m.
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