Annu Rani, a 27 year old Javelin throw athlete from Meerut has taken the IAAF World Championships by storm and becomes the first woman to take part in the World Championship finals.
She broke her own national record in the qualification round on Monday with a throw of 62.43m but failed short of the distance in the final as she could only produce a best of 61.12m from the eight attempts.
“I got a lot of support and I want to thank them. I want to say that women should also be given equal opportunities (in sport) and people should believe in them. They can also perform very well and give very good results,” Annu, who belongs to Badal village near Meerut, said after her event.
“This is my second World Championships and I am feeling good to reach the final and finish eighth. In the final, I could not do better than my qualification round performance but I am happy with the eight place finish. I will do better in future,” she added.
Motivation was not always easy to come by and Rani has been a testimony of that .
“I was mentally down after the 2018 Asian Games. It took time to come back after that. I motivated myself and that is how I am here today,” she said.
“Yeah, I needed (counselling kind of thing) to motivate myself, I watched motivational videos on youtube. The experience after the 2018 disappointment made me learn a lot of things, how struggles make you strong. Now I am feeling mentally strong.”
