The Fact News Service
Budapest [Hungary], August 28
India’s Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra made history in the early hours of Monday, capturing his country’s first-ever gold medal at the World Athletics Championships and edging out Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem by less than a meter at the final of men’s javelin throw event in Budapest.
Neeraj recorded his best throw of 88.17 m in his second attempt and managed to keep his lead intact till the very end. Nadeem, the Commonwealth Games champion with 87.82 m got a silver medal. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch secured the bronze with the best throw of 86.67 m.
Kishore Jena (best of 84.77 m) finished fifth while DP Manu (best of 84.14 m) finished sixth.
Now, India has medals of all colours at the World Championships. This is Neeraj’s second medal at the World Championships after he secured a silver last year. Before his two medals, India’s last medalist was Anju Bobby George back in the 2003 World Championships, getting a bronze for the women’s long jump.
In the first round of attempts, Finland’s Oliver Helander took the lead with a throw of 83.38 m. Neeraj Chopra’s first throw was a foul, giving him a start that he did not want. The first throws of Kishore Jena and DP Manu were 75.70 m and 78.44 respectively. But it was not enough to give them a top-three spot. At the end of the first round of attempts, Helander led the field.
In the second round of attempts, Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch took the lead with a throw of 84.18 m. However, Neeraj overcame the nerves of a bad start, outdoing Jakub with a monstrous 88.17 m throw to take the lead. Manu’s second attempt was a foul. Jena’s second throw was a solid 82.82 m and took him to the fifth spot. Neeraj led with a massive 88.17 m after the second round of attempts.
