New Delhi, March 15 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 Kumari Sharmila 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 Pavithra Venkatesh was second as she cleared the bar at 3.80 metres while Mariya Jaison of Kerala was third with a height of 3.70m.
In shot put, Uttar Pradesh's Kiran Baliyan's gold medal winning performance of 16.45 metres was far off the Olympic qualification mark of 18.50 metres. Manpreet Kaur of Punjab was second with a throw of 15.65 metres. Sonal Goyal 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. Amlan Borgohain 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.
In the women's 100m qualification round, Tamil Nadu's Dhana Lakshmi was the fastest runner with a time of 11.38 seconds. National record holder and Asian Games medallist comfortably won her heat with a time of 11.51 seconds. Assam's Hima Das dominated her heat with a time of 11.63 seconds to enter the final.
As expected, Jakarta Asian Games medalists Muhammed Anas of Kerala and Rajiv Arokia from Tamil Nadu advanced into the final of the men's 400m race on Monday. In the semi-finals, Anas emerged as the fastest runner with a time of 46.26 seconds. Arokia too dipped below 47 seconds with a time of 46.84 seconds in his semi-final heat.
Delhi's Amoj Jacob too entered the medal round with a comfortable first place finish in his heat. He clocked 47.80 seconds. Top eight athletes have been selected for the final race.
Due to few participants, there were no semi-finals in the women's 400 metres. Karnataka's MR Poovamma (54.34 seconds), Maharashtra's Aishwarya Kaila Mishra (55.05 seconds), and Kiran Pahal (56.02 seconds) of Haryana were leading runners in the qualification round.
( With inputs from IANS )
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