India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra comfortably won gold at the Sotteville Athletics meet in France on Tuesday. The 20-year-old covered a distance of 85.17 meters to finish on top of the podium.
Chopra’s throw of 85.17m put him way ahead of the field in competition to Moldova’s Andrian Mardare’s 81.48m who won the silver medal and Lithuania’s Edis Matusevicius’s 79.31m who clinched Bronze as they finished second and third respectively.
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Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago who was the 2012 London Olympics gold medalist came up with a throw of 78.26m, which was only enough for fifth place.
Neeraj is India’s top javelin thrower and he proved his mettle once again on the international stage when he won the gold medal with a massive margin. Earlier, the Commonwealth Games gold-medalist had given a dazzling performance and finished fourth in the first edition of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League 2018 in Doha breaking the national record with a throw of 87.43 meters.
However, he failed to continue the magic in the subsequent edition, which was held in USA where he finished at the sixth spot in the tournament.
“Well done Neeraj…keep going…Congratulations to Neeraj and coach Uwe Hohn (former World Record Holder in javelin throw). Thank you SAI and Govt of India for agreeing to send Neeraj to Finland along with coach for training on recommendation of Athletics Federation of India (AFI),” AFI President Adille Sumariwala tweeted.
Sports Authority of India also tweeted praising the youngster,Neeraj Chopra.
The 20-year-old is likely to take part in another meet before taking the flight to Jakarta for the Asian Games.