Lebanon Athletics Championships 2023: Annu Rani, Kishore Jena win gold medals in javelin throw

Annu Rani of India and Kishore Jena of India won gold medals in the men's and women's javelin throw events...

Digital Desk: Annu Rani and Kishore Jena of India won gold medals in the men's and women's javelin throw events, respectively, at the Lebanon Athletics Championships 2023 in Beirut on Friday.

Annu Rani won the six-woman field with a best throw of 55.32m. However, her effort fell short of her previous year's national record of 63.82m.

Annu Rani has not broken the 60m barrier in four contests since the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, where she won bronze.

Annu Rani's distance in Lebanon, however, was more than double that of silver medalist Lynn Nader (26.48m).

Whereas, Kishore Jena won the men's event with a spear throw of 78.96m. His personal best is 82.87, which he set in Bhubaneshwar last month. 

Shivpal Singh won silver with a 73.34m throw, a moderate effort compared to his career best of 86.23m at the 2019 Asian Championships in Doha. 

In the men's javelin event, seven athletes competed. Nabil Al-Akoumi finished third with 59.79m.

Neeraj Chopra, a gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, currently holds the record for men's javelin throw in India with a distance of 89.94 metres, set at the Swedish Stockholm Diamond League in 2022.