Annu Rani, a seasoned thrower, lit up the Jamshedpur Javelin Nationals with a national record-breaking effort of 63.82m on her maiden attempt. For almost a decade, the Uttar Pradesh athlete has been India's finest female thrower by a long shot. She beat the national record for the ninth time on Sunday, bettering her previous best of 63.24m achieved at the Federation Cup in Patiala last year. Annu threw 60.10m, 56.60m, and 58.13m on her next three tries before passing on the final two.
There was a large gap between Annu and her competitors in Jamshedpur. Sanjana Choudhary took silver with 53.87m, about 10m behind Annu's gold-winning effort. Annu has been steadily increasing her national record since breaking it in 2014 with 58.83m.
Annu had a quiet season up until now, following her disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished 14th in the qualifying round. Despite another record-breaking throw, Annu's thirst for more will not be quenched. In the run-up to the Tokyo Games, the 30-year-old thrower collaborated closely with German biomechanics expert and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra's coach Klaus Bartonietz.
Yash Saini of Haryana won the men's U-18 (700g javelin) category with a best attempt of 67.42m. On Sunday, Saini, competing in his first national competition, threw a string of steady throws of 65.21, 63.24, 64.05, and 65.46 metres. However, the 17-year-old was disappointed with his performance since he believes he belongs in the 70m club.
The results in the women's U-16 (500g javelin) event were underwhelming, with gold going to Disha of Delhi for 34.87m – some 15m less than Deepika of Haryana's age-group national record of 49.31m established last year. Only four women competed in the U-16 age group.
