Neeraj Chopra makes history with India’s first gold at the World Championships (Ld)

Budapest, August 28: Indian Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won India’s historic first gold medal at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, taking gold in the men’s javelin event here.

Chopra, who has been battling an injury for the past few months, clinched the competition in the Hungarian capital with a massive throw of 88.17 in his second round.

Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem won the silver medal, which is his country’s first medal in the world championships, with a distance of 87.82, while Czech Jakob Vadlik retained the bronze medal he won in Oregon last year, with a distance of 86.67.

The other two Indians in the fight also gave their best but were unable to finish on the podium – Kishore Kumar Jena, who had to overcome visa issues to get to Budapest, finished fifth with a personal best throw of 84.77 while DP Manu finished sixth with a score of 84.14. .

But India had high hopes for Neeraj Chopra, and the 25-year-old from Haryana didn’t disappoint as he hit an impressive knock in his second inning and claimed his first world championship gold.

Before Sunday, no Indian had won a gold medal at the World Championships, with Anju Bobby George taking bronze in the women’s long jump in Paris in 2003 while Neeraj Chopra won the silver in Oregon, USA last year.

Chopra, who usually aims to start with a big first putt and did so in the qualifying stage with an impressive 88.77 metres, opened a foul on his first attempt on Sunday.

But his next throw immediately propelled him into the top of the standings as the 25-year-old Tokyo Olympic gold medalist from Haryana threw the javelin to 88.17 to take the lead.

Germany’s Julian Weber took second place with 85.79 in his second attempt, while Czech Jakob Vadlic from the Czech Republic finished third with a throw of 84.18 meters in his second attempt.

Chopra managed just 86.32m on his third attempt while Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem jumped into the fray with an impressive throw of 87.82m on his third turn.

Nadeem, who underwent surgery on his shoulder earlier this year after sustaining an injury, started with 74.90m and followed with 82.81m before hitting 87.82m in his third round, a season’s best for a Pakistani shooter. .

Indian DP Manu also achieved his best effort in the first half of the competition with a distance of 83.72 meters on his third attempt and finished fifth while Kishore Kumar Jeena came with a distance of 82.82 meters on his second attempt to remain in seventh place.

Chopra was able to achieve a throw of only 84.62 meters in his fourth attempt, while Nadeem achieved 87.15 meters, while German Julian Weber remained in third place thanks to his attempt of 85.7 meters.

Arshad Nadim made one last attempt in the sixth round with a big attempt but it was still short of what he wanted and Chopra took the gold.

It’s been an indifferent year so far for Neeraj Chopra in 2023, running in just two events with a distance of 88.67m at the Doha Diamond League, his best of the season.