Neeraj Chopra in action during Zurich Diamond League© Twitter
Neeraj Chopra completed a brilliant recovery to finish second at the Zurich Diamond League men’s javelin throw event on Friday. The reigning world champion started with a 80.79m throw before two false throws in his next two attempts put him in fifth position. However, in his fourth attempt, Neeraj came back strong with a 85.22m throw. Another false throw followed but with a 85.77m throw in his sixth and final attempt, he came agonisingly close to grabbing the top spot but he ended up narrowly missing out.
Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who finished third at the World Athletics Championships. took the top position with 88.86m while Julian Weber finished third with a best throw of 85.04m.
Meanwhile, India’s Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth in men’s long jump with his best attempt of 7.99m. It was his first attempt in the event that turned to be his best and he was in contention for a Top 3 finish for quite some time. However, he was able to qualify for the Diamond League final.
Earlier, Neeraj became the first Indian athlete in history to win a World Athletics Championships gold medal. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist added a World Championship gold to his name with an attempt of 88.17m in the men’s javelin final.
He faced tough challenge from Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who threw 87.82m to finish second. However, Neeraj was able to top the table in his second attempt and maintain his lead in the event.
Chopra also has an Asian Games gold medal, a Commonwealth Games gold, a Diamond League title, an Asian Championships gold and an U-20 world title.
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