Annu Rani's journey to gold medal at National Athletics Championships

Annu Rani clinched gold medal in women's javelin throw event at 59th National Open Athletics Championships at Ranchi. Annu, who broke her own national record to enter World Championships this year, is a prominent name in Indian athletics. All of Annu's six attempts were better than her rival Sharmila Kumari's best effort. Here are some details about Annu's career.

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Early beginnings

It was in a family cricket game where Annu's bror Umesh reportedly became conscious of her sister's upper body strength. Umesh, who was into athletics himself, decided to motivate his sister to try her luck in athletic activities as well. He me her practice with sugarcane which served as a pseudo-javelin pole. According to or reports, Annu was able to throw javelin for a distance of up to 25 metres only in middle school. As Annu's career started taking off and her talent became apparent, her far started supporting her endeavours.

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National presence

Annu trained in Patiala and n proceeded to break javelin-throw record in 2014 by covering 58.83 metres. Qualifying for 2014 Commonwealth Games, Anu finished eighth at competition with her longest throw being 56.37 metres. She won bronze medal at 2014 Asian Games while breaking her own record as she threw for a long 59.53 metres. She later became first Indian women to break 60-metre barrier when her throw landed at 60.01 metres.

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In 2019, Annu broke her own record for fourth time by making a throw of 62.43 metres which helped her enter finals for IAAF World Championships 2019 in Doha last month. In National Open Athletics Championships, Annu has proven herself once again as she captured gold with a throw of 58.60 metres. Annu uses her platform to speak up about equal opportunities that women should get in sport.

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