Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won a historic silver medal at the World Athletics Championships final on Sunday with an 88.13m throw.
Grenadian Anderson Peters, the defending champion, clinched the gold medal with a giant 90.54 metres effort. Olympic silver winner Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic took the bronze with 88.09m.
With Neeraj’s silver India’s 19-year-long wait for a medal at the World Athletics Championships comes to an end. Long jumper Anju Bobby George was the first Indian to win a medal - bronze - in Paris 2003.
Chopra began with a foul throw and had 82.39m and 86.37m to be at fourth after three rounds. He got his rhythm back with a big fourth-round throw of 88.13m, his fourth career-best effort, to jump to second place, which he held on to till the end. His fifth and sixth throws were fouls.
In the post-event press meet, Neeraj talked about his second-place finish. “I didn’t feel pressured by the fact that I am an Olympic champion. I believed in myself even after the third throw. I made a comeback and won silver, it felt good. I would try to change the colour of the medal next time.”
Talking about gold medallist Anderson’s 90m plus throws, the Indian javelin thrower says, “It might have looked easy but Anderson must have put in huge effort to cross 90 metres. He is world lead this year, throwing very good throws, several above 90 meters. I am happy he has worked so hard. This is good for me too, I have good competition.”
Chopra had won Indian athletics’ maiden gold in the Tokyo Olympics last year. He is only the second Indian to have won individual gold in the Olympics, after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who clinched the yellow metal in the 2008 Beijing Games.
Meanwhile, compatriot Rohit Yadav failed to make the top-eight, having registered a best attempt of 78.72 after the first three throws. He finished 10th.
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