Inter-State Athletics: Annu Rani Wins Javelin Throw Gold, Fails to Qualify For Paris Olympics

Panchkula: Seasoned woman javelin thrower Annu Rani bagged the gold medal in her discipline but could not dip under the Olympic Qualification mark in the 63rd National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2024 here on Friday. Asian Games champion Annu Rani won the gold medal in the women’s javelin throw with a best effort of 57.70m but failed to achieve the qualification mark of 64m. The Inter-State Athletics is the final qualifying event for the Paris Olympics for Indian athletes.

However, Annu, who is also a gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games, can still make it to the Paris Olympics as she is ranked 19th in the Road to Paris Rankings. The top 32 eligible athletes in each discipline will obtain their Olympic quota for Paris 2024.

Athletes can either obtain a Paris 2024 quota for their country by breaching the entry standard or through rankings.

With the qualification period ending on June 30, other top stars like Abha Khatua, Gurindervir Singh, Muhammad Anas Yahiya and Muhammed Ajmal also tried their best but could not achieve the qualification marks in their respective disciplines.

Kiran Pahal, who on Thursday met the Paris 2024 Olympics entry standard with a personal best of 50.92s in the women’s 400m semi-final, matched the performance to win gold in the final. She was followed by Deepanshi (52.01s) and Jyothika Sri Dandi (52.11s) on the podium.

Asian Championships silver medallist Abha Khatua won the gold medal in women’s shot put with a throw of 17.63m. Abha, who improved the national record to 18.41m at the National Federation Cup athletics meet in Bhubaneswar, achieved the best effort of 17.63m on her second attempt. Khatua had no match in the final with Kachnar Chaudhary (16.76m) and Srishti Vig (15.11m) being the next best to settle for silver and bronze, respectively.

Meanwhile, Gurindervir Singh won the men’s 100m title in 10.32s ahead of Animesh Kujur (10.46s) and former national record holder Amlan Borgohain (10.49s).

The men’s 400m final saw a photo-finish from India’s Asian Games gold medal-winning relay team members Muhammad Anas Yahiya and Muhammed Ajmal. Yahiya finished first in 45.926s, only 0.003s ahead of Ajmal. The bronze went to Mohit Kumar, who clocked 46.15s.

Anas is also the national record holder in men’s 400m. He clocked 45.21s in Czechia in 2019.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) held separate trials for 400m runners in both men’s and women’s sections to pick members of the relay teams. Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the Olympic Games.

The AFI is expected to release the members of the respective relay squads soon.