Neeraj Chopra wins silver at World Athletics Championships with massive throw of 88.13m

Neeraj Chopra scripted history on Sunday as he clinched silver medal in the men's javelin event at the World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.13m. Chopra becomes only the second Indian athlete after Anju Bobby George to win a medal at the World Championships and the first to win a silver medal. 

Neeraj Chopra becomes first Indian to win World Championships silver

Neeraj Chopra qualified for the final with a season-best throw of 89.94m during the qualification stage. The Olympic Champion (Chopra) started the event with a foul throw.  After the completion of the first round, it was Anderson Peters of Granada who was in the lead with 90.21 m. Germany's Julian Weber was second with a throw of 86.86m, while Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch was third with 85.52m. 

In the second attempt, the 24-year-old (Chopra) threw the javelin to a distance of 82.39m. Jakub Vadlejch continued to maintain the second spot with 87.23 m, while Germany's Weber was still in the third spot. Anderson Peters maintained the top spot with 90.46m in his second attempt.

In the third attempt, Neeraj Chopra hit the mark of 86.37m to move to the fourth spot. Germany's Webber kept himself in Bronze medal position despite throwing 73.00m. Vadlejch was second with 88.09m in his third attempt while defending champion Peters's third attempt went to a distance of 87.21m.

The Olympic Champion Chopra turned things around in the fourth attempt with a massive throw of 88.13m moving him to the second spot and pushing Vadlejch to the third spot on the table.  Peters continued to lead the table and threw 88.11m in his fourth attempt. Chopra's last two attempts ended in a foul however the fourth attempt was enough for him to secure a silver medal for India.

Chopra was, however, no match for Grenada's gold winner Anderson Peters, who produced a massive 90.54m throw to defend the title he had won in the last edition in 2019 in Doha.

Peters, also 24, became only the second man in javelin history to defend World Championships title after the legendary Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic who had won gold in 1993 and 1995 editions.

Peters was a class of his own in the final as he had three massive 90m-plus throws. He opened with 90.21m and then sent his spear to 90.46m in his second attempt. After a series of 87.21m, 88.11m and 85.83m in his next three throws, his javelin soared and landed at a distance of 90.54m in his last attempt to seal the win in style.

Olympic silver winner Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic took the bronze with 88.09m.

Chopra received his silver from the hands of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) President Adille Sumariwalla during the victory ceremony amid loud cheers from several Indians at the stands, including the other athletes.

Chopra had topped the Group A qualification round and made the final at second place behind Peters by sending his spear to 88.39m for his third career-best throw. Peters had topped Group B with an effort of 89.91m.

The other Indian in the fray, Rohit Yadav finished at 10th with a best throw of 78.72m. Rohit had finished 11th overall in the qualification round with a best throw of 80.42m.

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

With one silver and five finals, this has turned out to be India's best-ever performance in the Athletics World Championships.

Neeraj Chopra career

Chopra had won Indian athletics' maiden gold in the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is only the second Indian to have won an individual gold in the Olympics, after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who clinched the yellow metal in 2008 Beijing Games.

Chopra burst onto the international scene with a gold in the 2016 World Junior Championships. He is currently the reigning Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold medallist. He has also won a gold in 2017 Asian Championships.

(With PTI inputs)