Bhubaneswar, Aug. 11 -- Annu Rani is not known to be consistent. A seasoned javelin thrower who has participated in four World Athletics Championships - she is set to add another next month in Tokyo having all but made it on world rankings - Annu's big throws are often bookended by long patches of mediocrity. Her Asian Games winning effort of 62.92m in Hangzhou in 2023 was followed by a streak of 15 events where she couldn't touch 60m. Another five events passed in 2025 before Annu won the International Wieslaw Maniak Memorial in Poland last Wednesday with a throw of 62.59m. Her national record is 63.82m, set in May, 2022. In her last 15 competitions dating back to May 2024, Annu touched 60m only twice, so when she landed in Bhubaneswar for the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level meet, the odds of the 32-year-old riding the momentum were stacked against her. However, buoyed by a vibrant crowd, a fatigued and jetlagged Annu willed herself on a humid evening to produce two 60m-plus throws and ease to victory. Annu started with modest efforts of 52.74m, 58.65m and 58.39m before cranking it up to 62.01m that put her beyond reach in the nine-woman field. She followed it with 61.01m and closed out her competition with 59.02m. Such was her dominance that five of Annu's throws would have won her the event. "I am very happy with the result. I won in Poland just a few days back with a 62m throw and to repeat that performance is great. There was a lot of fatigue due to travel. I didn't have the energy to compete but willed myself to come out here and perform," Annu, who landed here barely 24 hours before the meet, said. The temperature in Poland was around 14-16degC, a far cry from around 32degC here to go with almost 90% humidity. Annu said she blocked out the weather factor and sought to execute her throwing routine. "I didn't want to give any excuses. I was going a little too aggressively early on but then calmed down and focussed on technique. That's when things started to fall in place," said Annu, who is training under Russia's Marko Sargiri. "We're working on my angle of release and also trying to add speed to my approach." Placed 30th in the Road to Tokyo rankings before this event, Annu will gain vital points following her win. A total of 36 throwers will qualify for the Worlds, 11 of them on entry standard (64m) and the others by rankings."I am there on rankings. Today's performance will certainly help my case," she said. The win, and more importantly, the two 60m-plus throws, give her the confidence to better her national record soon. "To do 62m in back-to-back events is a big thing. If I can do 62m in this state of fatigue, I am sure I can do 64-65m more consistently." The qualification window for Worlds closes on August 24 and Annu is still not sure if she'll compete at the August 20-24 Inter State meet in Chennai. "It depends on the coach's plan. World Championships is around the corner so I don't want to over exert. I want to focus on weight training and technical work in the lead-up to the Worlds." In men's javelin, Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage rewrote Sri Lanka's national record with an opening throw of 86.50m to take top honours and achieve the Tokyo qualification mark of 85.50m. Tharanga's previous best of 85.45m came in 2024 while his season's best was 85.41m. Shivam Lohakare, 20, the latest Indian in the 80m club, denied a Sri Lankan 1-2, finishing second with 80.73m. The left-handed thrower's consistency is creditable as he threw 80.95m last month at the Indian Open in Pune. Sumedha Ranasinghe (80.65m), Rohit Yadav (80.35m), Sachin Yadav (79.80m) and Yashvir Singh (78.53m) finished behind Lohakara in that order. Sprint star Animesh Kujur didn't get close to his national record of 20.32 secs, but ran an impressively paced race to win the 200m, clocking 20.77 secs. South Korea's Ko Seung-hwan (20.95secs) led into the straight but had no answer to Kujur's late burst. Ragul Kumar (21.17s) was third. "I focussed on maintaining my form, especially in the home stretch. It was a good race and I reaped the benefits of my stint in Europe," the 22-year-old said. Kujur had entered in the 100m as well, but his focus was on the longer sprint. Since pulling out after giving entry would have led to action, he stopped after a few steps in the morning heat. He ran the 200m heat 30 minutes later, clocking 20.99 secs to qualify for the final. Besides the immediate returns, the inaugural edition gave a peep into some of the exciting Indian talents. Upcoming long jumper Shahnavaz Khan registered his first 8m jump - he leapt 8.04m - in an event won by Murali Sreeshankar (8.13m). Triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker followed last week's win in Kazakhstan with a top finish here, though it was a modest 16.53m. With the Tokyo qualification window closing soon, the attention shifts to the Inter State meet in Chennai....