India’s premier javelin thrower Annu Rani broke her own national record yet again by registering a career-best 62.43m in the qualification round at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha on Monday and booked her berth in the final.
Her mark came in the second of three attempt and bettered her own India best mark (62.34) set in Patiala.
In the Group A of women’s javelin throw, Rani’s effort was the third best while it was the fifth best throw overall.
On a night where no athlete in Group A managed to clear the automatic qualification mark of 63.50m and only two did so in Group B, the Indian’s effort was the fifth-best overall. With top 12 athletes qualifying for final, Rani comfortably made the cut for the finale to be held on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old’s first and third attempts read 57.05m and 60.50m.
With her performance, Rani became the first Indian woman to reach the javelin throw final at the IAAF Athletics World Championships.
Earlier in March this year, Rani had rewritten her own national record to clinch the gold and qualify for both the Asian and World Championships on the third and penultimate day of the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships in Patiala.
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Rani, representing Uttar Pradesh, had hurled the spear to a distance of 62.34m, nearly half a metre more than her earlier national record of 61.86m that she recorded in 2017. Her effort had bettered the qualifying standard of 61.50m for the ongoing World Championships.
In women’s 200m, Archana Suseentran (a late addition to India’s contingent) was eliminated in the preliminary round as she finished eighth in her heat with a timing of 23.65 seconds.
In women’s 400m, Anjali Devi finished seventh in the final heat with a timing of 52.33s (PB: 51.53) even as Asian Games champion Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nasser jogged to finish first.
Rani’s javelin throw final will be on Tuesday.