NEW DELHI: Asian medallist Annu Rani on Monday bettered her own meet record with a throw of 63.24 metres in the women's javelin throw, but fell short of the Tokyo Olympic qualification mark of 64 metres, on the opening day of the Senior National Federation Cup athletics.
The 28-year-old Uttar Pradesh international thrower looked in good form after having recorded a throw of 61.45m in her opening throw meet at Patiala's National Institute of Sports (NIS). But on her third attempt, she hurled the javelin to a distance of 63.24 metres which was better than her own meet record of 62.34 metres, set in 2019.
Sanjana Choudhary of Rajasthan was second with a throw of 54.55 metres while KumariSharmila of Haryana was third with a distance of 50.78 metres.
But there was an average performance in the women's pole vault and shot put final. In the pole vault, Tamil Nadu's Rosy Paulraj was first with a height of 3.90 metres. The Olympic qualification is 4.70 metres.
Tamil Nadu's PavithraVenkatesh was second as she cleared the bar at 3.80 metres while MariyaJaison of Kerala was third with a height of 3.70m.
In shot put, Uttar Pradesh's KiranBaliyan's gold medal winning performance of 16.45 metres was far off the Olympic qualification mark of 18.50 metres. ManpreetKaur of Punjab was second with a throw of 15.65 metres. SonalGoyal of Delhi was third with a distance of 15.09 metres.
In the men's 100m semi final heats, Punjab's Gurindervir Singh was the fastest runner with a time of 10.30 seconds. AmlanBorgohain of Telegana emerged the second fastest, having a time of 10.44 seconds. Both are in the finals. Punjab's Harjit Singh clocked 10.48 seconds in the semi-finals. IANS