Indian Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has bagged a gold for India at the Kuortane Games in Finland. Chopra claimed the medal after registering a throw of 86.69m on his first attempt. He finished ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott and world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.
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Chopra, who made headlines earlier this week for setting a new national record, started with an 86.69m throw on his first attempt.
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He also made two foul throws and eventually opted out of the last three. While Walcott finished a close second with a throw of 86.64m, Peters was third with an attempt of 84.75.
Due to the rain, Chopra started well but made an intentional foul on his second throw. He even had a nasty slip while making his third throw, after which he didn’t throw again.
This week, before bagging gold, the 24-year-old Indian superstar’s spear landed 70cm short of the 90m mark, the gold standard of the javelin world, at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on Tuesday.
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This was also Chopra’s first competition after winning gold in Tokyo in August last year. He was second in a star-studded field behind local athlete Oliver Helander, who was the surprise gold winner with a personal best of 89.83m.
Neeraj’s previous national record was 88.07m, which he set in March in Patiala last year.
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A few months later, on August 7, 2021, Neeraj became the first Indian player to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics with a throw of 87.58m. After Abhinav Bindra, he is only the second Indian player to win an individual gold medal in the Summer Games.
Neeraj’s next destination is the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League on June 30. Chopra is currently training in Finland for the Diamond League event.
(With PTI inputs)
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