November 21, 2024

Neeraj Chopra Becomes First Indian To Win Gold At World Athletics Championships

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2023-08-28 07:18:14

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There is no doubt that Neeraj Chopra is a big tournament performer. Not only that, he has a game plan of putting in his best in the first couple of throws to put his competitors under pressure. He did the same in the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest to win a historic gold, the first time an Indian athlete did so, with a throw of 88.17m in the finals. Although his first throw was called foul, Neeraj got the gold with his second attempt which was his best. The gap between the top javelin throwers in the world is widening with the emergence of Neeraj Chopra (although Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan won the silver with a throw of 87.83, the rest could not even manage 87m and Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch, whose personal best is a massive 90.88m, came third with 86.67). Chopra also became the second Indian, after Abhinav Bindra, to hold both the Olympic and the World titles simultaneously.

Neerja Chopra has now won every title in his chosen sport. He won the Junior World Championships in 2016, the Asian Championships in 2017, the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medals in 2018, the Diamond League in 2022 and 2023 and the Diamond League Champions Trophy in 2022. The only record missing from his illustrious resume is the world record which stands in the name of Czech Republic's legendary athlete Jan Zelezny who threw the javelin a massive 98.48m at a meet in Germany in 1996. Chopra has a personal best of 89.94m. Although a huge 8.54m further from his best, the world record is something that must be playing in Chopra's mind.

picture courtesy: screengrab from video uploaded by World Athletics