Neeraj Chopra finishes seventh in javelin throw at IAAF Diamond League
Neeraj Chopra, who is the under-20 world record holder in javelin throw, finished a decent seventh at the Monaco Diamond League. He will be competing at the World Championships next month.
Neeraj Chopra, India’s national record holder in men’s javelin throw, finished seventh at the IAAF Diamond League in Monaco on Friday. Of the six attempts his best was 78.92m.
The world junior record holder had a modest start in the one-day event. He had a series of 75m-plus throws in all his five legal attempts.
His first attempt was 75.52m, followed by a ‘no throw’ in the second. He reached 78.58m in his third attempt. The fourth attempt was 76.10m, but slipped to 75.37m in the fifth. However, he managed to push in the last and final throw to cover the distance of 78.92m.
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Eventual winner was Thomas Rohler of Germany whose best throw was 89.17m. Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic was second at 85.43m, while Johannes Vetter also from Germany was third with a throw of 85.14,
It was Neeraj Chopra’s second Diamond League competition, he had participated in the Paris leg held earlier this month.
Both the competitions were highly competitive and chief coach Bahadur Singh said experience gained in the Diamond League will surely help Neeraj mentally prepare for the World Athletics Championships to be held at London from August 4.
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Neeraj is among top athletes selected for the global meet though Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is yet to make an official announcement.
Neeraj had set the world Under-20 record of 86.48m last year and this season too he has been consistent. He had achieved the world qualification mark - 83m - during the Asian Grand Prix meet in China in April. The 19-year-old had won silver with a throw of 83.32m.
His best this season is 85.63m, recorded during the Federation Cup athletics meet held at Patiala from June 1-4.
The national champion had dominated javelin throw during the just concluded Asian Athletics Championships, held at Bhubaneswar from July 6-9. His gold winning throw of 85.23m was also a continental record.