Neeraj Chopra qualifies for Tokyo Olympics 2020 with 87.86m throw

Neeraj Chopra, coming back from injury, breached the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualification mark by throwing 87.86m at the Athletics Central North East Meeting.

An elbow injury forced Neeraj Chopra to miss competitive action for most part of 2019.

Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.86m at the Athletics Central North East Meeting League meeting here, making an impressive return to the circuit after recovering from an elbow injury.

The 22-year-old Indian, who missed the entire 2019 season due to the injury, breached the Olympic qualification mark of 85m in his fourth attempt and secured the top place at the international event here on Tuesday.

He threw the spear to 81.63m at the start and kept improving with every throw. He managed 82m in his second attempt and 82.57 in the third.

Neeraj Chopra finished first at the ACNW League meeting with a throw of 87.86m.

“Feeling super awesome to be back in the competition mode. Thank you everyone for your good wishes and supporting me always,” tweeted Neeraj, who has now secured India’s fourth Olympics quota in athletics.

Neeraj qualifies for Tokyo!
In his first competitive event since returning from injury, #TOPSAthlete Javelin thrower @Neeraj_chopra1 threw 87.86m at the ACNW League Meet in South Africa and qualified for #Tokyo2020 after crossing benchmark of 85m. Many congratulations.@afiindiapic.twitter.com/LGeL29PBqs

— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) January 29, 2020

 

Another Indian in fray, Rohit Yadav threw 77.61m to finish second.

The other three competitors did not even touch the 70m mark.

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Neeraj had missed the IAAF World Championships, the Diamond League and the Asian Championships while recovering from the injury.

His last major international competition was the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games where he won gold with a national record of 88.06m.

The Indian had undergone a surgery in May 2019 to treat the injury. He was expected to compete at the National Championship late last year but the AFI didn’t give him clearance, allowing him more time to heal.

National record holder KT Irfan had became the first Indian from athletics to qualify for the 2020 Olympics when he finished fourth in the 20km event of the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan in March 2019.

At the Doha World Championships last year, Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase) and country’s mixed 4x400m relay team had qualified for the Games.