Tokyo: National record holder javelin thrower Annu Rani had secured her Tokyo Olympics ticket through world rankings after World Athletics officially announced the quota places on Thursday. Rani finished 18th in the world rankings (out of 32)
Rani thus became the third javelin thrower to be at the Tokyo Olympics after male counterparts Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh, who have already made the cut last year. At the recently-concluded Inter-State Athletics Championship in Patiala, Rani failed to achieve the Olympic qualification mark of 64m.
She produced an effort of 62.83m to win the gold. Earlier, she threw her best effort of 63.24m during the Federation Cup in March to set a national record. The 28-year-old won a silver medal at the 2019 Asian Championships and a bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games.
The Indian men’s 4x400m relay team have qualified for #Tokyo2020 on the basis of their world ranking of 13.
Many congratulations and wishing them the best.#TokyoOlympics #Cheer4India pic.twitter.com/vvlO95fb1O
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) July 2, 2021
Meanwhile, sprinter Dutee Chand (women’s 100m, 200m), 400m hurdler MP Jabir and the Indian men’s 4x400m also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics through world rankings. While Dutee finished 41st and 50th out of 56 athletes in the 100m and 200m events respectively, Jabir finished 32nd (out of 40).
Dutee had shattered her own national record in the women’s 100m event at the Indian Grand Prix IV clocking 11.17s missing the Olympic Qualification time by 0.02s. The previous record was 11.22s, also created by Dutee.
The Indian men’s 4x400m relay team qualified on the basis of their world ranking of 13. However, the women’s 4x400m relay team missed the cut by a whisker after they were placed at the 17th spot. Only the top 16 teams qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
