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Annu Rani

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Annu Rani
Rani at the 22nd Asian Championships
Personal information
Nationality India
Born (1992-08-28) 28 August 1992 (age 32)
Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight63 kg (139 lb) (2014)
Sport
SportTrack and field
EventJavelin throw
TeamIndia
Achievements and titles
Personal bests63.24 meters
(2021) NR
Medal record
Women's javelin throw
Representing  India
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Birmingham Individual
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Hangzhou Individual
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Incheon Individual
Asian Championships
Silver medal – second place 2019 Doha Individual
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Bhubaneswar Individual
South Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2016 Guwahati Individual

Annu Rani Dharayan (born 28 August 1992) is an Indian javelin thrower. She was the first Indian woman to reach the javelin throw final at the World Championships in 2019.[1] At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she made history by becoming the first Indian woman javelin thrower to win a medal, a bronze.[2] Rani is the first Indian woman javelin thrower to win a gold at the Asian Games.[3]

Personal life and background

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Annu Rani Dharayan was born on 28 August 1992 in village Bahadurpur,[4]Meerut. Her father Amarpal was a farmer.[4] Her talent was identified by her brother, Upendra, who noticed her upper body strength during a cricket game. He began to train her by asking her to hurl sugarcane sticks in an empty field.[5] Annu's first javelin stick was one that she crafted herself from a long piece of bamboo, because she couldn't afford one. She started playing javelin throw first in the year 2010 at the age of 18. Her brother later began to pay for her training as well, despite her father's disapproval at girls pursuing sports. He finally came around to supporting Annu's talent after she proved herself by breaking the national record in 2014, and now supports her ambition.[6][7]

Professional achievements

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Annu Rani was initially coached by Kashinath Naik and is now coached by Baljeet Singh.[8]

In the 2014 National Inter-State Athletics Championship in Lucknow, Rani won the gold medal with a throw of 58.83 metres, breaking a 14-year-old national record and qualifying her for the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she finished eighth. Later in the year, she won the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, with a throw of 59.53 metres. Two years later she broke her own record again at the National Inter-state Athletics Championship with a throw of 60.01 metres.[9] In March 2019, she broke her own record again with a throw of 62.34 meters at the National Senior Athletics Championships in Patiala, Punjab.[10]

Rani won the silver medal at the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships in Qatar on 21 April 2019, which qualified for the World Athletics Championship, becoming the first Indian woman javelin thrower to participate in World Athletics Championship.[11] She won the bronze medal at the IAAF World Challenge event Golden Spike Ostrava in Ostrava, Czech Republic.[12]

She won the Sportstar Aces Sportswoman of the Year Award in Athletics in 2020.[11] She won the gold medal in the women's javelin throw event at the 59th National Open Athletics Championship.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Annu Rani qualifies for javelin throw finals with national record effort". India Today. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  2. ^ "CWG 2022: Annu Rani wins bronze, becomes first Indian female javelin thrower to win medal". The_Hindu. 7 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Tokyo 2020: India's women Javelin thrower Annu Rani secures Olympics quota through world rankings". India Today. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Asian Games 'Golden Queen' Annu Rani's Javelin Was Aimed at 'Freedom for Women' in Her UP Village". News18. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  5. ^ "After throwing sugarcanes, bamboo sticks, Annu Rani now hurls javelin for CWG bronze". The Indian Express. 7 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Annu Rani's Quest For Gold – Impact Guru". impactguru.com. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  7. ^ Nikhil (27 June 2017). "Annu Rani – The Torchbearer for Indian Women in Athletics Javelin Throw". Voice of Indian Sports. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  8. ^ Srivastava, Shantanu (13 May 2020). "Annu Rani confident of breaching Olympic qualification mark, calls for resumption of outdoor training". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Annu Rani – The Torchbearer for Indian Women in Athletics Javelin Throw". Voice of Indian Sports – KreedOn. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Fed Cup athletics: Annu Rani rewrites her own Javelin Throw national record, qualifies for Worlds". Scroll.in. Press Trust of India. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  11. ^ a b Rayan, Stan. "Annu Rani wins Sportstar Aces 2020 Sportswoman of the Year in athletics". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Javelin: Bronze for Annu Rani at IAAF event". Sportstar. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  13. ^ "National Open Athletics Championship: Annu Rani wins gold, Neeraj Chopra pulls out". India Today. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
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