Annu Rani becomes first Indian woman to reach World Championship javelin final

In the process, Annu Rani also smashed her national record of 62.43m, which she had achieved in March this year. The Indian opened with a 57.05m throw before coming up with her career-best throw in the second round.

Annu Rani on Tuesday became the first Indian to reach the finals of the women’s javelin throw in the World Championships in Doha. (Twitter/Media_SAI)

Annu Rani on Tuesday became the first Indian to reach the finals of the women’s javelin throw event in the World Championships in Doha. The 27-year-old, who finished third in Group A, threw the javelin 62.43m in her second attempt and emerged as the fifth-best performer of the qualification round.

In the process, Annu also smashed her national record of 62.43m, which she had achieved in March this year. The Indian opened with a 57.05m throw before coming up with her career-best throw in the second round. Annu failed to cross the automatic qualification mark of 63.50m, as she could only manage a throw of 60.50m in her third and final attempt.

#AnnuRani has qualified for the women’s javelin throw final as her throw of 62.43m put her in 5th after both qualifying groups.🏃🏻‍♀️

👉🏻Final live tomorrow at 11:50 PM IST on Hotstar & Star Sports 3.📺

Wishing her the best.👍🏻@KirenRijiju @RijijuOffice @DGSAI @afiindia #KheloIndia https://t.co/andQUJ4D1L

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) September 30, 2019

Congratulate #AnnuRani on setting a new National Record in Women’s Javelin.

Also congratulate her on becoming the first Indian to qualify for the Women Javelin final at the #WorldAthleticsChampionships.

Keep it up Champ!

— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) September 30, 2019

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Only two javelin throwers, Asian champion Lyu Huihui (67.27m) of China and Christin Hussong (65.29m) of Germany, could cross the automatic qualification mark of 63.50m while another 10, including Annu, made up the 12, who will compete in the finals.

World leader and Asian Games champion Liu Shiying (63.48m) of China and Ratej Martina (62.87m) of Slovenia finished ahead of Annu in Group A while reigning Olympic champion Sara Kolak of Croatia was sixth with a best throw of 60.99m.