IAAF Worlds: Annu Rani becomes first Indian woman to enter javelin finals; finishes ahead of reigning Olympic champion

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Doha, Sep 30: India's Annu Rani entered her name in the history books as she became the first Indian to reach the finals of the women's javelin throw event in the IAAF World Championships 2019 in Doha.

In her second attempt, the 27-year-old threw the javelin 62.43m and emerged as the fifth-best performer of the qualification round. She finished third in Group A.

In doing so, Annu also broke her national record of 62.43m, which she had achieved in March earlier this year. She opened with a 57.05m throw before coming up with her career-best throw in the second round. However, she could only manage a throw of 60.50m in her third and final attempt and thus failed to cross the automatic qualification mark of 63.50m.

Only two javelin throwers, Asian champion Lyu Huihui (67.27m) of China and Christin Hussong (65.29m) of Germany, could cross the automatic qualification mark of 63.50m. Rest of the 10 participants, including Annu, made up the 12, who will compete in the finals.

World number one and Asian Games champion Liu Shiying (63.48m) of China and Ratej Martina (62.87m) of Slovenia finished ahead of Annu in Group A. Surprisingly, reigning Olympic champion Sara Kolak of Croatia was sixth with a best throw of 60.99m.

Annu will be in action in the final on Tuesday (October 1) at 11:50 PM (IST).