Gopi finishes 21st in marathon, India ends World Championships campaign with mixed results

Asian champion Gopi Thonakal finished 21st in the men's marathon race as India ended their World Athletics Championships campaign with mixed results here on Sunday.

Laggards at the world stage, the 27-member Indian team was not expected to win any medal but it performed better than expected in this world championships with three finalists -- in mixed 4x400m relay, men's 3000m steeplechase and women's javelin throw.

Long jumper Anju Bobby George's bronze in Paris in 2003 still remained India's only medal at the showpiece event.

Out of the three finals, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and the mixed 4x400m relay team booked Tokyo Olympics quotas while javelin thrower Annu Rani finished a creditable eight.

Annu became the first Indian woman to qualify for javelin throw finals while Avinash broke his own national record twice in three days.

India had three finalists in the 2015 edition in Beijing while only one Indian made it to the finals in the last edition in London in 2017.

The 31-year-old