Javelin: Sachin Yadav feels for idol Neeraj Chopra's Tokyo 25 miss

Rising javelin thrower Sachin Yadav finished fourth at the Tokyo 2025 World Championships, outperforming his idol Neeraj Chopra. Despite his own success, Sachin expressed disappointment for Neeraj's eighth-place finish, attributing it to an injury.

Rising Indian javelin thrower Sachin Yadav said he felt disappointed for his idol and a two-time Olympic medallist, Neeraj Chopra, after the latter missed out on a podium finish at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. While Sachin delivered a strong performance himself by finishing fourth, he acknowledged disappointment for Neeraj, who has been a constant inspiration and a consistent medallist since 2019.

Sachin Yadav delivered India's standout performance in the men's javelin at Tokyo25, finishing fourth on his World Championships debut. He recorded a throw of 86.27m in the opening round, missing out on the bronze by just 40 cm. Meanwhile, the then reigning world champion Neeraj Chopra ended up eighth in the final with an 84.03 m throw. On the day, Sachin outperformed both former Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and current Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem.

'Comparisons with Neeraj are unfair'

Speaking about outperforming Neeraj at Tokyo 2025, Sachin said that comparisons with Neeraj Chopra are unfair, calling him a great athlete who could have performed better if not for his injury. He expressed that he feels bad for Neeraj's result, noting that he has consistently been on the podium since 2019. Sachin added that Neeraj inspired him to take up the sport and felt disappointed that his first competition alongside him ended with Neeraj missing out. "Everyone asks the same question: that I beat Neeraj Chopra. It's not like that. He is a great player. If there is a good player practising, he will definitely beat me. It's just a matter of practise. He was injured at that time. If he were not injured, he could have done better. Anything could have happened. I felt bad for Neeraj bhai as well. I started the game after seeing him. From 2019 till today, he has finished the podium in every event. It was the first time he has played a competition with me and he was out of the competition. I felt bad about that," Sachin Yadav told ANI.

On missing the podium by a whisker

Speaking about him missing the podium finish by just 40 cm, Sachin said he avoids dwelling on the past, as narrowly missing a medal by 40 cm still disappoints him. Instead, Sachin said that he focuses on staying motivated and ensuring he doesn't miss such an opportunity in future competitions. "I don't look back much. Because I feel bad that I missed out by just 40 centimetres. So, I don't look back much. I motivate myself that I may have missed back then, but I don't want to miss it that way in the next competition," he said.

(ANI)

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