New Delhi [India], May 16 (ANI): Olympic and World Championships gold medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra took to social media on Thursday to express happiness at his triumphant return to national-level competitions with a gold medal at Federation Cup on Wednesday.
Neeraj took to X and said he felt very happy to compete in India after three years. He said it was wonderful to see enthusiasm for the javelin throw in Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
The event marked Neeraj’s first appearance at a national-level event since 2021. His previous outing in a national event was the 2021 Federation Cup in March and bagged the gold with a throw of 87.80m.
On Wednesday, Chopra bagged the gold, with the best throw of 82.27 m. DP Manu, a silver medalist in the Asian Athletics Championships, bagged the second spot with the best effort of 82.06 m.
Asian Games silver medalist Kishore Jena, however, could not secure a podium position. Uttam Patil, with a throw of 78.39m and took home the bronze.
तीन साल के इंतजार के बाद भारत में एक competition में भाग लेकर वास्तव में खुशी हुई | कलिंगा स्टेडियम में Javelin throw का उत्साह देखना अद्भुत था | 🙏
Thank you, Odisha. Thank you, India. 🇮🇳
The Road to Paris continues! 💪 pic.twitter.com/TlQlTslWIp
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) May 16, 2024
Neeraj started off in the final with a throw of 82 m. However, DP took the lead with a throw of 82.06 m in his first attempt.
The second attempt of the Olympic gold medalist turned out to be a foul, though he bounced back well with an 81.29 m throw in the third attempt. DP Manu still held the lead, though.
Neeraj took the lead in his fourth attempt, throwing at a distance of 82.27 m. Manu could not gain back his lead as he threw 81.47 m on the fourth attempt and fouled on the next two attempts. Neeraj chose not to attempt his last two throws and bagged the top prize.
Jena, however, was not even in contention for the podium spot during all this while, recording a foul and a throw of 75.49 m, then two more fouls and then throws of 73.79 m and 75.25 m respectively, to end an unspectacular night for himself.
Uttam started with a throw of 75.55 m and attained the podium position at number three after the fifth round.
The starting list for the javelin throw final also included, Shivpal Singh, Parmod, Rohit Kumar
Kunwer Ajairaj Singh, Manjinder Singh, Bibin Antony, Vikas Yadav, Vivek Kumar
Neeraj was competing in his second competition of the 2024 outdoor athletics season. He started his season at the Doha Diamond League last week, finishing second with a throw of 88.36m. (ANI)
