With 65m on her mind, javelin thrower Annu Rani moves to Germany, trains alongside Vetter

Annu has a busy season lined up in 2023. So, She plans to make Offenberg her training base, at least until the World Championships in August, although she would like to work with Daniels beyond that.

Annu Rani competes in the women’s javelin throw qualification round during the Tokyo Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on August 3, 2021. | Photo Credit: AFP

Annu Rani will tell you she doesn’t like the cold. But while the mercury has touched the freezing mark in Offenburg, the 30-year-old from Muzaffarnagar in Western Uttar Pradesh is thrilled to be in this South German town. She arrived here two weeks back because she thinks training here alongside highly rated German coach Werner Daniels is her best chance to accomplish a target she has set for herself.

“There is a number in my mind. I want to cross 65m. Javelin throw is an event in which you can improve 3-4 meters when things go well. I’ve made throws of 63m (She has a personal best of 63.82m) as well but at least I want to get to at least 65m. I know I can do it. That’s my goal for this year. That’s why I am here,” she tells Sportstar.

She’ll have plenty of motivation in Offenberg. Annu might be the best women’s javelin thrower by a distance in India – she’s held the national record since 2014, and over the last decade no other thrower has come within 4m of it. She remains the only Indian woman to medal in the javelin throw at the Asian Games (bronze in 2014) and Commonwealth Games (bronze in 2022).

At Offenberg though she is rubbing shoulders with former World champion Johannes Vetter and Christina Obergfoll. The latter is a two-time Olympic silver medallist and has a personal best of 70.20m was trained by Daniels. Obergfoll’s husband Boris is the coach of Vetter, who prior to the Tokyo Games was seen as the favourite to win the Olympic gold.

FILE PHOTO: Annu Rani in action during the 61st National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on June 12, 2022. The Hindu | Photo Credit: B. Velankannai Raj

“Right now because it’s so cold we aren’t able to train outdoors. And on my first day, I met both Johannes and Christina. Christina has retired but Vetter was training along with me. He was practicing his throws alongside me. It feels great to be training alongside someone like him. It pushes me as well. They were both very nice to me. We haven’t spoken much but they were curious how long I was going to be in Germany and what my plans over here are,” says Annu,

She plans to make Offenberg her training base, at least, until the World Championships in August, although she would like to work with Daniels beyond that. “The aim is to train here till the Worlds but have to get my visa extended as well. If all goes well, I’ll stay until the Olympics,” she says. She has high hopes from this stint.

Despite her success last year, Annu says she was desperately looking for a good quality coach, especially, after the contract of Indian javelin coach Uwe Hohn ended after the Tokyo Olympics, where Annu failed to make the final. “In the past, we had a coach. But after his contract ended, there was no good coach with good knowledge,” she says.

That’s when a tip came from Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, who is himself currently training in South Africa with coach Klaus Bartonietz. He had trained with Daniels for a short spell in 2018 and suggested Annu consider him. “Coach Uwe thought I could train with coach Daniels and Neeraj also said he was a good coach. I spoke to coach Daniels and what also encouraged me was that I found an apartment right next to the ground. I can go from the room to the ground and from there to my room. Because I don’t have to travel at all, I’m able to recover well. The only focus is on training,” she says.

Ideally, Annu would have wanted to travel to Germany earlier but she had trouble with her visa. “My visa was rejected the first time I applied for it. It took four months for me to get it the second time. Even now I only have a three-month visa. I hope it will be extended because I have a long program here,” she says.

Annu Rani reacts during the women’s javelin throw final of the Commonwealth Games at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, on August 7, 2022. 

For now, Annu and Daniels haven’t made any major changes. “Right now the coach is still studying my technique. Only once he gets a better idea can we make changes. For now, we are already doing a lot of weightlifting. There are a number of points I want to introduce. We have to increase my training load, the amount of gymnastics training as well as my technique. There are many areas I have to improve on,” she says.

Incidentally, this will be the first time Annu will be training by herself, something that is slightly unnerving to her. “I’ve trained abroad before but usually it was with a group of Indians. When I trained in Poland in 2018, Neeraj was also part of that group. Usually, there’s a lot of help when you are with a team but this time I’m by myself. But it’s not difficult. I’m sponsored by Olympic Gold Quest and they have sent a physio to be alongside me. Coach Daniels is also very helpful. He picked me up from the airport and made sure I settled well. He’s very focused on training and very supportive outside that. But mostly I’m very motivated because I know that this training will be very useful for me this year,” she says.

Indeed Annu has a busy season lined up. “We have many major competitions. There are the Asian Championships and then the Worlds and the Asian Games. I’ve made the final of the World Championships two times now (she was 8th in 2019 and 7th in 2022). I think I can improve in that position. The qualification standards for the World Championships are also very high (63.80m). It’s almost as high as that for the Paris Olympics (64m). If I do well at the World qualifiers, I have a good chance of qualifying for the Olympics. But I want to do more than that. I want to cross 65m,” she signs off.