BHUBANESWAR: Javelin ace Annu Rani used her experience to capture the top prize at the World Athletics Bronze-Level Continental Tour at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday.
The 32-year-old claimed the No 1 spot with an effort of 62.01. Rani, the 2022 Asian Games gold medallist, is naturally stoked with her effort. This is her second successive 60m-plus throw in a span of a few days. The national record holder from Uttar Pradesh had thrown a distance of 62.59m to capture the title at the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level meet just a few days back.
"I'm happy with my performance today (Sunday), though my first throw was 52.74m, but gradually in my fourth attempt I touched 62.01m. My 60m-plus throw earlier this week (August 6) in Europe has given a big boost to my confidence," Annu said.
Annu said she will look to improve on her performance before the World Championships qualification deadline, which is August 24. The Worlds is set to be held in Tokyo in September.
"I would like to add some distance to my performance in the next two weeks. I am confident that I will be at Tokyo either by touching the qualification distance or by the rankings."
Annu's performance in Poland has helped her climb the rankings table as she is placed at 30th spot in the Road to Tokyo World Athletics Championships.
Of the top 36 throwers eligible to compete at Worlds, 11 athletes have achieved automatic qualification mark of 64m in the women's javelin throw till date. The remaining 25 athletes are through the world ranking quota system as per World Athletics qualification guidelines.
Long jumpers M Sreeshankar and Shaili Singh won a gold medal each in the men's and women's categories with a distance of 8.13m and 6.28m, respectively.
Local athletes Animesh Kujur and Prangya Prasanti Sahu lit up the crowd by winning gold medals in the men's 200m and women's 100m hurdles events, clocking 20.77s and 13.74 sec respectively.
Results (winners): Men's 100m: Bin Mohd Azeem (Malaysia) 10.35s. Women's 100m: Abinaya Rajarajan 11.57s. Men's 200m: Animesh Kujur 20.77s. Women's 200m: Angle Silvia 23.95s. Women' 100m hurdles: Prangya Prasanti Sahu 13.74s. Men's 400m: T K Vishal 45.72s. Women's 400m: Vijayakumari G K 53.04s. Men's 800m: Mohammad Afsal 1:46.60s. Men’s 5000m: Waberi Igueh (Djibouti) 14:05.36s. Men's 4X400m: Sri Lanka 3:08.22s. Men's long jump: Sreeshankar M 8. 13m. Men's triple jump: Abdulla Aboobacker 16.53m. Women's 800m: Amandeep Kaur 2:04.31s. Women's 1500m: Puja 4:15.13s. Women's long jump: Shaili Singh 6.28m. Women’s Javelin: Annu Rani 62.01m. Men's javelin: Rumesh Tharanga (Sri lanka) 86.50m.