Neeraj Chopra Makes the Nation Proud by Bringing Home Gold
Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra made history once more on Sunday when he won the men's javelin final in Budapest with a long throw of 88.17 meters, becoming the first Indian to do so at a World Athletics Championships.
With Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14m) capturing the fifth and sixth slots, respectively, three Indians finished in the top eight, marking another first. Three Indian athletes placed in the top eight of an event at the World Championships for the first time ever. In his second effort, the 25-year-old Chopra produced his finest throw of the day. He began with a foul but went on to receive 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m, and 83.98m. Arshad Nadeem, the defending Commonwealth Games champion from Pakistan, earned silver with a throw of 87.82 meters, while Czech Jakub Vadlejch won bronze.
Chopra is now only the second Indian, after illustrious shooter Abhinav Bindra, to hold the Olympic and World Championship titles consecutively. At age 23, Bindra won the World Championships, and at age 25, he won the Olympic gold. Chopra won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships after becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic gold in track and field at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Anju Bobby George, a renowned long jumper, had won bronze in the 2003 World Championships before him. After the legendary Czech throwers Jan Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildsen, the Indian superstar is only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championship championships.
In addition to winning the World Championships in 1993, 1995, and 2001, Zelezny won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1996, and 2000. 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 World Championship gold medalist Thorkildsen.
Chopra accomplished every championship his sport has to offer with his performance on Sunday. In addition to four individual Diamond League Meeting titles (two in each of 2022 and 2023) and the Diamond League champion's trophy last year, he has won gold in the Asian Games (2018) and Commonwealth Games (2018). In addition, he won the Asian Championships in 2017 and was crowned junior world champion in 2016.
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