25th National Federation Cup Athletics Competition: Annu Rani wins javelin gold with a distance of 61.15m, book berth for Commonwealth Games

India’s star javelin thrower Annu Rani booked her tickets for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games as well as the Hangzhou Asian Games scheduled for later this year. Competing for the first time since the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the 29 year-old won javelin throw gold medal at the 25th National Federation Cup Athletics Competition on Monday in Kozhikode.

Annu’s gold-medal winning throw of 61.15-meter was better than the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard of 59.50m, while the Asian Games qualification mark is 58m.

The Uttar Pradesh thrower was the favorite to win the title and opened her account with a throw of 60.14m. Her second throw was 59.01m while three attempt was 57.55m. Her fifth throw was 61.15m while the last and final throw was 59.90m.

Haryana’s Shipla Rani was far behind in the second spot. Her best throw was the 55.72m. Sanjana Chaudhary of Rajasthan finished third with a throw of 54.19m.

In the long jump pit, Kerala’s Nayana James gold winning jump of 6.47m was marginally better than the Asian Games qualifying mark of 6.45m. To book a ticket for the Commonwealth Games, Nayana needs to achieve 6.50m.

Kerala’s talented jumper Ancy Sojan finished second with a jump of 6.33m. But at the Indian Grand Prix meet, Ancy recorded a jump of 6.55m. Monday was one of those off-days for Ancy. Sandra Babu, also from Kerala, was third with a jump of 6.32m.

Coming to the track events, Andhra Pradesh’s hurdler Jyothi Yarraji sailed over the women’s 100m hurdles to post a fascinating time of 13.08 seconds, which was better than the previous national record of 13.38 seconds, but her gold medal performance was wind-aided and wasn’t considered record books.

The Commonwealth Games qualifying mark in the women’s 100m hurdles is 13.11 seconds, while 13.30 seconds is the qualifying standard for the Asian Games.

Maharashtra’s Komal Chandraka Jagdale also achieved an Asian Games berth in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event. She crossed the finish line in 9:47.86 seconds, which was better than the qualifying mark of nine minutes 50 seconds. The Commonwealth Games standard in the women’s steeplechase is 9:22.30.

Haryana’s Shankar Lal Swami, winner of the gold medal in the men’s 3000m steeplechase event, also won a ticket to the Asian Games. His winning time of 8:32.01 was better than the Asian Games qualifying mark of 8:35.40. The Commonwealth Games standard of 8:19.89 is challenging.

Only Avinash Sable has qualified for both Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

India’s 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games silver medalist in the high jump (T64), Praveen Kumar competed in the Federation Cup. He cleared the 2.05m to finish sixth in the men’s high jump. Sarvesh Kushare of Maharashtra won gold by clearing the 2.25m.