Asian silver medallist Annu Rani produced her best in her last throw in the qualification round and entered the women’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, on Wednesday. It will be Olympian Rani’s second final in her third consecutive Worlds.
National record holder Rani, who was eighth at the last Worlds in Doha in 2019 and has a personal best of 63.82m, fouled her first attempt and had a mediocre 55.35m in her next before producing a 59.60m in her last effort. Though it was behind the automatic qualification mark of 62.50, which only three achieved, it was enough to see her finish eighth overall (fifth in her group ‘B’) and enter the final which is open to the top 12. The final will be held on Friday evening (Saturday morning in India).
Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi, a finalist at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, topped the qualification with a season-best 64.32m while China’s Olympic champion and Asian Games gold medallist Shiying Liu was second with 63.86.
