New Delhi [India], January 1 (ANI): Neeraj Chopra, India’s ‘Golden Boy,’ solidified his place as one of many nation’s best athletes on the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Although Chopra fell in need of retaining his gold medal, he delivered a exceptional efficiency, ending with a finest throw of 89.45 meters to assert silver.
Despite a robust efficiency on his second try, he struggled with 4 consecutive foul throws, which prevented him from profitable gold.
Chopra turned the second male athlete from post-independence India to win two Olympic medals in a person occasion. He can also be the one Indian athlete to bag two totally different medals (Gold in Tokyo 2020 and Silver in Paris 2024) on the Olympics.
Chopra’s first and third makes an attempt have been invalidated by crimson flags, and his remaining three makes an attempt have been fouls. Despite a robust efficiency within the qualification spherical with a throw of 89.34 meters, his 89.45-meter throw was not sufficient to retain his gold.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem gained gold with a throw of 92.97 meters, setting a brand new Olympic file and surpassing Denmark’s Andreas Thorkildsen’s mark from Beijing 2008. Grenada’s Anderson Peters secured bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters.
Chopra narrowly missed out on one other title by simply 1 centimetre, ending second within the Diamond League remaining with a finest throw of 87.86 meters on the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
In the Diamond League remaining, Chopra began sturdy with a throw of 86.82-metre, putting him second behind Peters, whose profitable throw got here within the opening spherical.
Germany’s Julian Weber additionally recorded his finest on his first try. Chopra adopted up with an 83.49-meter throw and got here near overtaking Peters on his third try, lacking by simply 1 centimetre. His subsequent throws measured 82.04m, 83.30m, and 86.46m.
This marked Chopra’s fifth look within the Diamond League remaining. He completed seventh in 2017, fourth in 2018, and gained the Diamond League crown in 2022 with a throw of 88.44m. Last yr, he completed second behind Jakub Vadlejch with a throw of 83.80m.
The 26-year-old collected 14 factors throughout two Diamond League meets this season to qualify for the ultimate. He completed second in each the Doha leg in May and the Lausanne occasion final month, putting fourth on the general factors desk. Seven athletes competed within the males’s javelin throw remaining.
Chopra set a nationwide file of 89.94m on the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League in 2022 and recorded his profession’s second-best throw of 89.49m on the Lausanne meet final month. His silver-winning throw in Paris measured a powerful 89.45m.
Earlier in November, Neeraj Chopra’s profitable partnership along with his long-time coach Klaus Bartonietz, which resulted in two Olympic medals, two World Championship medals, and an Asian Games gold, has come to an finish because the 75-year-old German coach has determined to retire.
During their time collectively, Chopra achieved exceptional success, together with two Olympic medals (gold and silver), two World Championship medals (gold and silver), an Asian Games gold, and a Diamond League title.
Recently, Chopra introduced the beginning of an thrilling new chapter in his profession, partnering with javelin legend Jan Zelezny, who has come on board as his new coach.
Zelezny, a three-time Olympic and World champion and the present world file holder, has lengthy been an idol to Chopra.
Zelezny, a Gold medalist on the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, has 5 of the highest ten finest throws of all time and broke the world file on 4 events en path to claiming the present undisputed mark of 98.48m, in Germany, in 1996. (ANI)