Shot putter Toor and javelin thrower Rani fail to reach Olympics finals

Tokyo: Asian record holder shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor and javelin thrower Annu Rani failed to qualify for the final rounds of their respective events following below-par performances at the Olympics here on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Toor, who was expected to at least make the finals, failed to live up to the expectations as he could only manage one legal throw of 19.99m, in his first attempt, to finish 13th out of 16 competitors in qualification A.

Competing with a heavily bandaged shoulder, his next two throws were fouls. Every participant gets only three attempts in the qualification round.

The below-par show meant that Toor made an exit even before the start of second qualification.

Those who cleared 21.20m or at least 12 best performers from the two qualifying rounds made the final cut.

Toor had qualified for Olympics with a personal best of 21.49m in the Indian Grand Prix 4 in June. And had he managed to achieve that, he would have been an automatic qualifier to the finals.

In the women's javelin throw, national record holder Rani was even worse as she finished 14th and last in qualification A with a best third round throw of 54.04m, which was well below her personal best of 63.24m which she had produced in March.