Neeraj Chopra wins gold medal at World Athletics Championships. (AP Image)
Neeraj Chopra achieved his best throw of the day in his second attempt – 88.17m.
Neeraj Chopra scripted history once again as he became the first Indian to clinch a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships. Chopra started as the favourite in the javelin throw final and he didn’t disappoint and won another gold medal for the country. The ace javelin thrower with an 88.17m throw to finish at the top of the podium.
It was another memorable night for Neeraj but it started with a bit of hiccup as he committed a foul on his first attempt but bounced back well on the second attempt with his gold-winning throw of 88.17m. Chopra was pumped after the throw as he had an idea that it would be difficult for his opponents to beat that.
Meanwhile, on his third and fourth attempts, Neeraj hit 86.32m and 84.64m. He produced another massive throw – 87.73m on the fifth attempt and ended with an 83.98m throw.
The 25-year-old javelin thrower has now become only the second Indian — after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra — to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships title. Bindra won the World Championships title when he was 23, and the Olympics gold at 25.
In last year’s edition of the World Championships, Chopra settled for a silver but this year he looked in good rhythm in both the qualification and final rounds.
Before him, legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George had won a bronze in the 2003 World Championships.
He also became only the third javelin thrower in history to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships titles after the iconic Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.
Two other Indians participated in the final of javelin throw final, Kishore Jena registered his personal best throw 84.77m and finished fifth in the tally. While DP Manu also did well on his final attempt with an 84.14m throw to finish sixth. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem took the silver with his season’s best throw of 87.82m, while Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic got the bronze.
