In another disappointment
for the athletics contingent, India’s Annu Rani failed to qualify for the
javelin throw final at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday. Rani finished with a below-par
throw of 54.04m in the Group A qualifiers.

Annu
managed a distance of 50.35m in her first attempt, improving it to 53.19m in
her next. She needed to make a huge effort to qualify for the 12-woman final from
the 14-woman Group A, and she improved marginally in her final throw.

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However, it
was way off the automatic qualification mark of 63m. Her final attempt was also
well below her personal best of 63.24m, which she managed at the Federation Cup
earlier this year.

Poland’s
Maria Andrejczyk was the only thrower to automatically qualify for the final,
after sending her javelin a distance of 65.25m in her first attempt.

According
to rules, throwers who manage a distance of 63m or the 12 best performers qualify
for the final.

India’s
Neeraj Chopra is in contention in the men’s javelin throw event, which will be
held on Wednesday.

Meanwhile,
in other track and field events, debutant Olympian Kamalpreet Kaur finished sixth
in rain-hit women’s discus throw event, while sprinter Dutee Chand failed to
qualify for the 200m semifinals on Monday.

Kaur, whose
only other international competition was the 2017 World University Games, sent
her discus a distance of 63.70 in her final attempt, equaling 2010 Commonwealth
Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia’s performance in the 2012 London Games.

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Kaur was participating
with an injury to her right shoulder, which was heavily strapped throughout the
event. She began with an effort of 61.62m, before fouling her next attempt. She
managed 63.70 in her final attempt, which saw her finish sixth as the bottom
four out of the 12 finalists were eliminated after three rounds.

Meanwhile, Dutee
ran her season’s best in 200m but that was not enough for a semifinals berth as
she made a disappointing exit from the Olympics after finishing last in her
heat race.

The
25-year-old Dutee, who had also crashed out of her pet event 100m in the first
round, clocked 23.85 seconds to finish seventh and last in Heat 4.