- Sunday, April 28, 2024
The ace Indian javelin thrower, who recently won the World Athletics Championships, narrowly fell short of the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch.
By: Shubham Ghosh
OLYMPIC gold medalist and world champion Neeraj Chopra finished second in Diamond League men’s javelin throw event in Zurich, Switzerland, with the best throw of 85.71 metres (m) in early hours of Friday (1).
The ace Indian athlete, who recently won India’s first-ever gold at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, failed to defend his Diamond title by falling just short of the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (85.86 m), who took the title. Germany’s Julian Weber finished third with a coverage of 85.04 m.
In 2022, the Indian javelin thrower made history by becoming the first from his country to win the title by registering a personal best of 89.94 m. Vadlejch and Weber finished second and third, respectively.
Chopra, 25, started the first attempt of the 2023 event with a throw of 80.79 m. Lithuania’s Edis Matusevičius took the lead with a throw of 81.62 m and led at the end of the first round.
In the second attempt, Vadlejch clocked 83.46 m, dropping Edis and Chopra one spot down each. The Indian’s attempt in this phase was a foul, keeping him at number three. After Weber struck a throw of 84.75 m, Chopra dropped down to number 5. The German ended the second round with a lead and Chopra was at number five.
The Indian’s third attempt also turned out to be a foul, keeping him at number five. Weber ended Round Three with his lead intact.
In the fourth attempt, Jakub took the lead in the 10-man field with a throw of 85.86 m. Chopra’s fourth throw was a massive 85.22 m, which catapulted him to the second spot. Jakub finished Round 4 with a lead, with the Indian at the second spot.
Chopra’s fifth throw was a foul as well but he had done enough to stay at the second position. He entered the penultimate round at Number Two, with Jacub still leading.
At the end, Chopra earned a second-spot finish and failed to defend his Diamond League title. His final throw was 85.71 m, missing out on the gold narrowly, with Jakub taking the top honour home.
India’s Murali Sreeshankar finished at number five in the men’s long jump competition with the best jump of 7.99 m. Staying in contention for a podium spot for more than half of the event, Sreeshankar could not match his performance with others and dipped down the ranks in the second half of the tournament.
Miltidias Tentoglou of Greece took home the gold with an 8.20 m jump, while Tamay Gayle bagged the second spot with his jump of 8.07 m.
The third spot went to USA’s Lawson Jarrion with a jump of 8.05 m.
(With ANI inputs)
