She had been promising a big one for the last few years. Javelin thrower Annu Rani finally got her act together on the big stage, with a 62.43m effort that broke her National record and carried her to the final of the World championships on Monday.
That made her the first Indian woman javelin thrower to enter the final at the Worlds. The 27-year-old was more than a metre behind the automatic qualification mark of 63.50s — in fact, just two (China’s Lyu Huihui and Germany’s Christin Hussong) made the cut — and Annu qualified as one of the best 12 from the two qualification groups. Annu, who also had throws of 57.05 and 60.50, was fifth overall.
Anjali Devi was nowhere near her personal best (51.53s) as she finished sixth (36th overall) in the women’s 400m heats and crashed out. Also bowing out was Archana Suseentran who was last in the women’s 200m heats (40th overall) in 23.65s. She had clocked a personal best 23.18s early this year.
On Sunday night, Jisna Mathew was caught in traffic at the start of the third leg and had to virtually push her way through, but still India finished an impressive seventh in the 4x400m mixed relay, making its Worlds debut.
The Indian quartet, comprising National record holder Muhammed Anas, V.K. Vismaya, Mathew and Noah Nirmal Tom, clocked a season-best 3:15.77s. It was a time many would not have thought possible a few days ago, with leading quartermilers like Hima Das and Arokia Rajiv on the injured list.
Apart from the United States, which broke the World record, silver medallist Jamaica bettered its National record while bronze medallist Bahrain shattered the Asian record with 3:11.82s. The fourth-placed Great Britain rewrote the European record.
