Hotshot Toor, Annu steal show with gold

PTI

Ranchi, May 16

Reigning Asian Games champion shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist javelin thrower Annu Rani shared the limelight as they clinched gold medals in their respective events on the second day of the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships here today.

The 30-year-old Annu produced a below-par performance as she hurled the spear to a distance of 59.24 metres but it was enough to better the qualifying standard for the upcoming Asian Championships as well as the Asian Games set by the Athletics Federation of India.

Annu, representing Uttar Pradesh, has a personal best of 63.82m. It is also the national record set by her last year. The women’s javelin throw qualifying standard for the July 12-16 Asian Championship is 54.73m, while the mark for the September 23-October 8 Hangzhou Asian Games is 56.46m.

The 28-year-old Toor, an Asian record holder, threw the iron ball to a distance of 20.42m to win gold, though it was below his personal best of 21.49m.

Toor, representing Punjab, bettered the Asian Championships as well as the Asian Games qualifying mark of 19m. Both second and third place finishers — Delhi’s Sahib Singh (19.23m) and Punjab’s Karanveer Singh (19.05m) — also breached the qualifying mark.

Earlier, 15 athletes made the cut for the final of the men’s 5,000m race. The athletes were selected from two heats conducted in the morning. In both the heats, the top three runners crossed the finish line below 14 minutes 10 seconds, indicating that the final will be an exciting race. The Asian qualifying time in 5,000m is 14 minutes.

Uttar Pradesh’s Gulveer Singh, winner of the men’s 10,000m gold, will aim for a double in the meet as he has also qualified for the 5,000m final.

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