RANCHI: Tajinderpal Singh Toor, the reigning champion of the Asian Games in shot put, and Annu Rani, the bronze medalist in javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games, both shone brightly on the second day of the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships.
Toor secured a gold medal in shot put, while Rani achieved the same feat in javelin throw.
Rani, aged 30, delivered a performance below her usual standards, throwing the javelin to a distance of 59.24m. However, this distance was still sufficient for her to surpass the qualifying standards set by the Athletics Federation of India for both the upcoming Asian Championship and the Asian Games.
Representing Uttar Pradesh in the championships, Annu Rani holds a personal best of 63.82m, which is also the national record that she achieved last year.
At the Asian Championships scheduled for July 12-16, the qualifying standard for the women's javelin throw is set at 54.73m. However, for the Hangzhou Asian Games taking place from September 23 to October 8, the corresponding qualifying mark is slightly higher at 56.46m.
During the competition, 28-year-old Toor, who holds the Asian record in the event, secured the gold medal with a throw of 20.42m. Although this distance fell short of his personal best of 21.49m, it proved sufficient to claim victory. Toor represented Punjab in the tournament and surpassed both the Asian Championships and Asian Games qualifying marks of 19m.
The second and third place finishers, Sahib Singh from Delhi (19.23m) and Karanveer Singh from Punjab (19.05m), also surpassed the qualifying mark, demonstrating their strong performances in the competition.
Srabani Nanda of Odisha emerged the fastest female athlete as she won the 100m dash with a time of 11.57 seconds at the Birsa Munda Stadium. Her winning time, however, fell short of the Asian Championship qualification standard of 11.44 seconds.
Amiya Kumar Mallick, also from Odisha, became the fastest male athlete of the championships by winning the 100m event with a time of 10.31 seconds. His winning time also fell short of the 10.19 seconds qualifying standard of both the Asian Championships and Asian Games.
Maharashtra's Aishwarya Mishra won the women's 400m race with a time of 52.57 seconds but was later disqualified for lane infringement. Priya Mohan of Karnataka, who originally finished second with a time of 53.40 seconds, was declared winner.
She had lodged a protest after the race with the technical panel of the AFI and got a decision in her favour.
Priya's time also bettered the Asian Championships qualification standard of 53.54 seconds.
Ramesh of Tamil Nadu won the corresponding men's quarter-mile race in 45.75 seconds, while Muhammed Ajmal (45.85) was second. Both breached the Asian Championships qualification standard of 46.17 seconds.
Earlier, 15 athletes made the cut for the final of the men's 5000m race. The athletes were selected from two heats conducted Tuesday morning.
In both the heats the top three runners crossed the finish line below 14 minutes 10 seconds, hinting that the final will be an exciting race. The Asian qualifying time in 5000m 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 5000m final.
The men's 110m hurdles heats saw Maharashtra's Tejas Ashok Shirse better the previous meet record of 13.65 seconds by clocking 13.61 seconds in his heat.
Of the 13 competitors contesting for a place in the final, Shirse was the only athlete to have dipped below 14 seconds. The Asian championships qualification mark set by AFI is 13.57 seconds.
In the women's 100m hurdles heats, three athletes achieved the Asian Championships qualification mark. National record holder Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh also improved her meet record, by clocking 13.18 seconds.
R Nithya Ramaraj of Tamil Nadu (13.62 secs) and Pragyan Prasant Sahu (13.61 secs) were the other two athletes to have qualified for continental meet in July.
Meanwhile, late Monday evening, Md Nur Hasan and Priti Lamba won gold medals in the men and women's 3000m steeplechase events. The duo also achieved the Asian Championships qualification standards in their respective events.
(With PTI inputs)
