GUWAHATI: Annu Rani becomes the first Javelin thrower from India to qualify for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
28-year-old Annu qualified for the Tokyo Olympics through the World Rankings quota.
It is to be mentioned that Annu Rani hails from Meerut in India.
“#AnnuRani has qualified for #Tokyo2020 in women’s javelin throw through her world ranking (18th). Many congratulations to her.
#Cheer4India #TokyoOlympics,” SAI Media Tweeted.
#AnnuRani has qualified for #Tokyo2020 in women’s javelin throw through her world ranking (18th). Many congratulations to her.#Cheer4India #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/uGxVCxw4vn
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 2, 2021
Personal life and background:
Rani was born on 28 August 1992 in an agricultural family in Bahadurpur village in Uttar Pradesh .Her talent was identified by her brother, who noticed her upper body strength during a cricket game. He began to train her by asking her to hurl sugarcane sticks in an empty field. Annu’s first javelin stick was one that she crafted herself from a long piece of bamboo, because she couldn’t afford one. Her brother later began to pay for her training as well, despite her father’s disapproval at girls pursuing sports. He finally came around to supporting Annu’s talent after she proved herself by breaking the national record in 2014, and now supports her ambition.
Professional achievements:
Annu Rani was initially coached by Kashinath Naik and is now coached by Baljeet Singh.
In the 2014 National Inter-State Championship in Lucknow, Rani won the gold medal with a throw of 58.83 metres – thus breaking a 14-year-old national record. This enabled her to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. With this throw, she qualified for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with the selection criteria being 58.46 metres. Later in the year, she won the bronze medal with a throw of 59.53 metres at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Two years later, she broke her own record again at the National Athletics Championship in 2016 with a throw of 60.01 metres and crossed the 60-metre barrier for the first time. In March 2019, she broke her own record again with a throw of 62.34 meters at the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships in Patiala, Punjab.
In 2014, she won the bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon, with a throw of 59.53m.
In Bhubaneswar in Odisha at the 2017, Asian Athletics Championships Rani took a bronze medal with a throw of 57.32m.
Her most recent achievements include her silver medal win in the women’s javelin throw event at the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships in Qatar on 21 April 2019, which enabled her to qualify for the finals in the World Athletics Championship, thus becoming the first Indian woman javelin thrower to participate in World Athletics Championship. and her bronze medal win at IAAF World Challenge event called Ostrava Golden Spike Athletics Meet, held in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
She won the Sportstar Aces Sportswoman of the Year Award in Athletics in 2020.(Wiki)
