Neeraj Chopra wins silver in 2022 World Athletics Championships
The 24-year-old athlete's performance in the 2022 World Championships has made him only the first male track and field athlete and the second Indian to win a medal in the World Championships.
FollowOlympic champion Neeraj Chopra wins a silver medal in his maiden World Championships final in Eugene. The 24-year-old athlete's best attempt was 88.13 metres in the fourth round.
Chopra finished second best overall behind defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who ended comfortably beyond the 90-metre mark. Chopra secures a throw of 88.13 meters in his fourth attempt in the men's Javelin finals.
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Chopra competed in the 2017 London World Championships but managed only 82.26 metres to fall short of the automatic qualification mark of 83 metres. His personal best is 89.94m. He again missed out in the 2019 World Championships in Doha as he was recovering from elbow surgery.
However, his performance in the 2022 World Championships has made him only the first male track and field athlete and the second Indian to win a medal in the World Championships.
The first Indian to win a medal -- bronze -- in the World Championships was legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George in the 2003 Paris edition.
Chopra faltered in his first attempt and then threw the javelin 82.39m in his second attempt and 86.37m in his third attempt to rise to fourth after three rounds. His fourth throw of 88.13 metres gave the glimmer of hope for a historic gold as he rose to the second position. But his last two attempts were fouls.
Olympic silver winner Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic won the bronze with 88.09m.
Chopra had qualified for the final at second place behind Peters after topping the Group A qualification with a third career-best throw of 88.39m. Peters's effort of 89.91m saw him top Group B.
The other Indian in the Javelin competition, Rohit Yadav, finished tenth with a best throw of 78.72m. The 21-year-old athlete had won silver last month at the National Inter-State Championships, where he recorded a season's and personal best of 82.54m.
Last year, Chopra won the maiden gold for Indian athletics in the Tokyo Olympics. He is only the second Indian to have won an individual Olympics gold after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who clinched the metal in the 2008 Beijing Games.
