World and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra travelled more than 4000km after competing in the Doha Diamond League on May 10 to Bhubaneswar. The Haryana lad had to adapt swifty to two different climatic conditions within five days to register an 82.27m throw to win the men’s javelin gold medal in the National Federation athletics meet at the Kalinga Stadium here on Wednesday.
On a humid evening, Chopra, who competed in the country for the first time since winning his Olympic gold medal three years ago, was the centre of attraction on the last day of the event. With Olympic champion hurdler Anier Garcia, Olympic gold medallist M.M. Somaya and Worlds bronze medallist Anju Bobby George in attendance, the champion thrower did not disappoint about two thousand fans who greeted and backed him with loud cheers and whistles.
D.P. Manu took the early lead by throwing 82.06m, to which Neeraj, who was second in the order, managed 82m. The two engaged in a battle for gold and silver, while others, including local star and Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Kumar Jena could not impress throwing 75.25m in his sixth throw to end up at fifth place, competed among themselves.
Manu held his lead up to the half-way mark before Chopra, who changed his jersey after three throws, pulled off his best effort and jumped to the top spot.
As Manu fouled his last two attempts, Chopra, who had a long discussion with his coach Klaus Bartonietz, preferred to skip his last two and conserve energy ahead of a busy calendar leading up to the Olympics.
His last win with an an 82m throw came in 2016 at the South Asian Games in Guwahati where he registered 82.23m to win gold.
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Praveen Chithravel, who had achieved 17.12m in the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru, leaped to 16.79m to take the triple jump gold, but was disappointed to perform well below the Olympic qualifying mark of 17.22m. Other prominent jumpers including Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobaker finished second and fourth respectively.
Muhammed Ajmal clocked 45.91, his season best, to take the men’s 400m title, while seasoned quartermiler M.R. Poovamma timed 53.32s to claim the women’s crown.
The fastest runners of the event, Gurindervir Singh (10.35) and Sneha S.S. (11.63), also recorded their best performances of the season.
The results (finals):
Men: 100m: 1. Gurindervir Singh (Pun) 10.35, 2. Animesh Kujur (Odi) 10.50, 3. Harjit Singh (Pun) 10.56; 400m: 1. Muhammed Ajmal (Ker) 45.91, 2. Santhosh Kumar T. (TN) 46.48, 3. Vikrant Panchal (Har) 46.62; 1500m: 1. Mehedi Hassan (Asm) 3:42.82, 2. Abhishek Singh Thakur (MP) 3:43.49, 3. Yoonus Shah (UP) 3:44.25; 10000m: 1. Mohan Saini (Goa) 30:41.65, 2. Puneet Yadav (Har) 30:42.78, 3. Ankit Deshwal (Har) 30.44.32; Triple jump: 1. Praveen Chithravel (TN) 16.79m, 2. Eldhose Paul (Ker) 16.59m, 3. Mohammed Salahuddin (TN) 16.25m; Javelin: 1. Neeraj Chopra (Har) 82.27m, 2. Manu D.P. (Kar) 82.06m, 3. Uttam Patil (Mah) 78.39m.
Women:
100m: 1. Sneha S.S. (Kar) 11.63, 2. Giridharani Ravikumar (TN) 11.67, 3. Srabani Nanda (Odi) 11.76; 400m: 1. M.R. Poovamma (kar) 53.32, 2. Summy (Har) 53.46, 3. Vithya Ramraj (TN) 53.52; 1500m: 1. Akshana (MP) 4:23.65, 2. Nikita Sharma (HP) 4:25.05, 3. Amandeep Kaur (Pun) 4:28.10; 10000m: 1. Soniya (Ukd) 37:15.29, 2. Pooja Yadav (UP) 37:17.44, 3. Prajakta Godbole (Mah) 37: 27.34; Hammer: 1. Harshita Sehrawat (Del) 59.10m, 2. Tanya Chaudhary (UP) 56.51m, 3. Manpreet Kaur (Pun) 56.4m; High jump: 1. Abhinaya Shetty (Kar) 1.77m, 2. Angel Devasia (Ker) 1.74m, 3. Most Ritu Akhtar (Ban) 1.71m; Heptathlon (after seven events): 1. Agasara Nandini (Tel) 5460, 2. Anamika K.A. (Ker) 4997, 3. Deepika S. (TN) 4817.
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