WARSAW(Poland): Reigning Asian Games champion Annu Rani (women’s javelin throw) and Rajesh Ramesh (men’s 400m) won their respective events, while Jyothi Yarraji topped the qualifiers at the Warszawskie Zawody Lekkoatletyczne 2024 athletics meet in Poland on Saturday.
Only two participants competed in the women’s javelin throw competition in Warsaw. The 31-year-old Annu threw 58.70 metres in her fifth attempt, comfortably surpassing Poland’s Amelia Bielak’s best attempt of 35.35 metres to emerge victorious, as per Olympics.com.
Annu, an eight-time national champion, also holds the women’s javelin national record with a 63.82m attempt at the Indian Open Javelin Throw Competition 2022. Her best throw this year was 60.68 m in Germany two months ago, six metres short of Colombian athlete Flor Ruiz’s world-leading mark of 66.70 m.
Yarraji, meanwhile, clocked 13.29s to top the women’s 100m hurdles qualifiers in Warsaw but did not run in the final.
In May this year, Yarraji, the reigning Asian champion, matched her 100-metre hurdles national record of 12.78s.
Yarraji also competed in the women’s 200m event in Warsaw and clocked 23.53 to finish second behind compatriot Kiran Pahal, who timed her run at 23.33.
Indian runner Rajesh Ramesh, 25, led the field in the men’s 400m race, clocking a season’s best time of 45.54. Compatriot Muhammed Ajmal, with 45.69, came third, while 400-metre national record holder Muhammed Anas Yahiya (45.93) finished fourth.
Amoj Jacob (46.00), Mijo Chacko Kurian (46.52), and Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan (46.68) came fifth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.
Meanwhile, the women’s 400m race saw Jyothika Sri Dandi clock 52.32 to finish first. India’s Vithya Ramraj (53.18), Subha Venkatesan (53.19), Prachi (53.97), and MR Poovamma (53.97) occupied the third to sixth spots.
All Indian athletes who competed in Warsaw will feature at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The group had been training at the Olympic Sports Centre in Spala, Poland, ahead of the upcoming Summer Games.
The 29-member Indian athletics team, including reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra, is scheduled to assemble in Paris on July 28. Track and field competitions at the 30th Olympic Summer Games will begin four days later, on August 1. (ANI)