Neeraj Chopra is another athlete who will find himself at the centre of national attention, thanks to his men’s javelin gold medal-winning performance in Budapest.
The man who shot to fame by winning India’s first ever Olympic gold medal in athletics two years ago has now won his country’s first ever World Championships title.
While so many of the field events have gone right down to the wire, with last throws of the dice deciding the winners, it was a second-round throw which settled the outcome.
After opening with a foul, Chopra then reached out to 88.17m with his following effort.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem got closest when he produced a season’s best 87.82m in round three, but his fourth-round 87.15m was the best of his following attemptes, meaning he would have to make do with silver.
Jakub Vadlejch’s 86.67m in round five secured bronze as the Czech relegated Germany’s Julien Weber (85.79m) to fourth.
“After the Olympic gold I really wanted to win the World Championships,” said Chopra following a final in which his two fellow team-mates, Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu, also finished fifth and sixth respectively. “I just wanted to throw further. I wanted to throw more than 90m tonight but it needs all parts of the puzzle to be there. I couldn’t put it all together this evening.
“Maybe next time. I don’t use social media much so I don’t know about my followers. There are so many people in India and I think, after this triumph, there will be more following me.”
Source: AW