Neeraj Chopra: Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra wins silver at World Championships, scripts history again

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra created another history as he became the second Indian and first male track and field athlete to win a medal at the World Championships by winning a silver medal in the javelin throw final here.

The 24-year-old Chopra, who came into the showpiece as a hot medal favourite, made a best throw of 88.13m to finish second.

Renowned long jumper Anju Bobby George was the first Indian to win a medal – bronze – at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

Chopra started with a foul throw and finished fourth after three rounds with 82.39m and 86.37m. He got his momentum back with a massive fourth round throw of 88.13m, the fourth best effort of his career, to jump to second place, which he maintained till the end. His fifth and sixth throws were fouls.

Grenada’s defending champion Andersen Peters won the gold with a best throw of 90.54m, while Olympic silver-winner Jakob Vadledge of the Czech Republic took the bronze with 88.09m.

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Chopra had topped the Group A qualification round and qualified for the final, second only to Peters, sending his javelin to 88.39m for the third career-best throw. Peters topped Group B with an effort of 89.91m.

Another Indian, Rohit Yadav finished 10th with a best throw of 78.72m. Rohit finished 11th overall in the qualification round with a best throw of 80.42m.

The 21-year-old Indian had recorded a season and personal best of 82.54m, winning a silver at the National Inter-State Championships last month.

Chopra won Indian athletics’ first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is only the second Indian to win an individual gold at the Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Originally published at Pen 18