Neeraj Chopra misses top spot by 1cm, finishes 2nd in Diamond League Final
Ace Indian javelin throw athlete Neeraj Chopra finished in second position in Brussels with a best throw of 87.86m at the Diamond League Final, on Sunday.
Annu Rani finished seventh in the women’s javelin throw event at the Brussels Diamond League athletics meet at the King Baudouin Stadium in Belgium
Annu’s best throw of 57.74m came in her third attempt. It was considerably short of her personal best of 63.82m, which is also a national record. Her season’s best, meanwhile, is 59.24m.
She was the only Indian participating in the last leg of the Diamond League. The Brussels leg, popularly known as Memorial Van Damme, was her first Diamond League competition this season.
The 31-year-old Indian has competed in just one Diamond League meet before – at Lausanne in 2019. There, too, she finished seventh.
Annu has struggled for form of late. Since winning the bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August last year, the former Asian Games medallist has failed to get past the 60m mark in any of the events she has competed in.
Reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won the event with a world-leading throw of 67.38m. The effort was also a personal best and a Japanese national record.
The top five athletes, including world championships silver medallist Flor Ruiz of Colombia, managed to log throws beyond the 60m mark at the Brussels meet.
The Brussels leg was the final meet of the Diamond League 2023 season before the finals in Eugene, Oregon, scheduled on September 16 and 17.
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