Neeraj Chopra was in fiery form on Sunday, Budapest. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist became the newly-crowned World Champion after a massive throw of 88.17m. Neeraj had managed to win a silver at the Worlds in Eugene last year, Anju Bobby George is the only other Indian to win a medal at the competition's history, when she won bronze in long jump in 2003.
It wasn't easy for Chopra on Sunday, and he had to beat off stiff competition from Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem. The Indian ace surged to the lead in his second attempt, with a huge 88.17m throw, and then he turned his back to celebrate in his trademark fashion, with his arms aloft immediately. Meanwhile, Pakistan's Nadeem, who was coming back from an elbow surgery and a knee injury, registered his season's best effort of 87.82m on his third attempt to clinch silver. The Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch won bronze with a 86.67m throw.
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After his win, fans began to label Neeraj as 'the greatest of all time', but the 25-year-old rejected such a tag. "I will never say this, the greatest of all time. People say that just the world Championships gold is missing. I won it now but I have many things left to do and I will focus on that. I would not like to say this (greatest of all time)", he said.
{{/usCountry}}After his win, fans began to label Neeraj as 'the greatest of all time', but the 25-year-old rejected such a tag. "I will never say this, the greatest of all time. People say that just the world Championships gold is missing. I won it now but I have many things left to do and I will focus on that. I would not like to say this (greatest of all time)", he said.
{{/usCountry}}"If you want to say greatest of all time, it would have to be like Jan Zelezny," he further added. Zelezny is a legendary javelin thrower from Czech Republic, holding the world record of 8.48m and has bagged three Olympic and three Worlds gold medals.
Neeraj also had special praise for DP Manu and Kishore Jena, who finished in the top-eight. "Kishore Jena and DP Manu also did very well (finished fifth and sixth). Our athletics is growing. But we have to do a lot of work also. I spoke to Adille sir (AFI president) about the Mondo tracks here and hoping that we will also have this in India just like here. We will do even better in coming years," he said.