India's Annu Rani fails to make women's javelin final cut at Tokyo Olympics

Annu Rani's best throw of 54.04m placed her in 29th out of 30 place in qualification. Only the top 12 advance to the final.

2 minBy Utathya Nag
Annu Rani of India competes in the Women's Javelin Throw Qualification on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
(Getty Images)

India's Annu Rani failed to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics women's javelin throw event final after finishing 14th in Group A of the qualifying at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday.

Annu Rani, the second Indian female javelin thrower after Gurmeet Kaur (Sydney 2000) to compete at the Olympics, started off her day with a 50.35m in her first throw.

The 28-year-old Indian consistently improved her distances with 53.19m and 54.04m in her second and third throws, respectively but none were quite enough to get herself in contention to make the cut for the medal round.

Annu Rani couldn't get anywhere close to her personal best of 63.24m - a national record she set during the Federation Cup in March.

With the qualifying mark set at 63m, Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk, one of the big favourites to clinch gold at Tokyo, topped the 15-woman Group A throw of 65.24m. Australia's Mackenzie Little, with 62.37m, and China's Lyu Huihui, with 59.22m, followed.

With Group B featuring 15 more athletes, USA's Maggie Malone topped the batch with a 63.07m throw.

Annu Rani finished 29th overall and had no chance of advancing any further in the competition. The top 12 throwers across both groups moved on to the final.

India’s Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh will be the other javelin throwers in action at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday starting with qualifying.