Javelin thrower Annu Rani sets new national record at 56th Open Nationals

Lucknow: Javelin thrower Annu Rani smashed her own national record and in the process became the first Indian woman to cross the 60m mark on the third and penultimate day of the 56th Open National Athletics Championships here on Thursday.

Annu, who won a bronze in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, threw the javelin to a distance of 60.01m to erase her own earlier national mark of 59.87m which she made in July during the National Inter-State Championships in Hyderabad.

24-year-old Annu was representing Railways. Today's effort was his fourth national record in two years.

Poonam Rani of ONGC won the silver with an effort of 56.73m while the bronze went to another Railwaywoman K Rashmi with 51.56m.

In men's jump, for the first time in Indian athletics history, all the top three finishers cleared 2.20m.

Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi went on to win the gold with an effort of 2.22m while Chetan of Services and Sreenith Mohan of Kerala bagged the silver and bronze respectively by clearing 2.20m.

In fact, Commonwealth Youth Games champion Tejaswin added 5cm to his personal best to win the gold and equalled the meet mark of 2.22m held by Jithin Thomas since 2012.

17-year-old Tejaswin, who earlier this year won a silver in the South Asian Games in Guwahati, surprised many of his senior competitors to win the gold. In the process, he posted a world leading mark in the event in the Under-18 category.

American high jumper Vernon Turner was listed with better marks (2.24m) than Tejaswin in the current IAAF lists. However the US jumper does not have a verifiable date of birth to prove his standing, and hence Tejaswin would get the credit of being at the top of the IAAF list.

Other Results:

Men's 20000m Walk:

1. Devendar (Services) 1:29:48.00; 2. Chandan Singh (Services) 1:29:53.00; 3. Jai Bhagwan (AIPCB) 1:30:33.00.

Men's Pole Vault:

1. J Preeth (Railways) 4.95m; 2. Dhirendra Kumar (Gujarat) 4.85m; 3. P Balakrishna (Karnataka) 4.85m.

Men's 400m Hurdles:

1. Jithin Paul (Railways) 50.38; 2. MP Jabir (Services) 50.74; 3. Jagadeesh (Railways) 51.10.

Men's 3000m Steeplechase:

1. Naveen (Services) 8:43.18; 2. Durga Bahadur Budha (Uttarakhand) 8:46.21; 3. Ramesh Kumar Bishnoi (Rajasthan) 8:46.32.

Men's Discus Throw:

1. Arjun (Railways) 56.67m; 2. Kirpal Singh (ONGC) 56.41m; 3. Dharamraj (Services) 54.39m.

Women's 400m Hurdles:

1. Santosh Kumari (AIPCB) 58.98; 2. Sarita Ben Gayakwad (Gujarat) 59.32; 3. Ayana Thomas (AIPCB) 59.80.

Women's 3000m Steeplechase:

1. Preeti Lamba (ONGC) 10:31.88; 2. Chinta Yadav (UP) 10:32.88; 3. Chavi Yadav (UP) 10:43.25.