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Tokyo Olympics: Neeraj Chopra starts off in style; qualifies for Javelin finals with his first throw

A benchmark of 83.50m was set to qualify for the final. But junior world record holder Neeraj secured the ticket to the final with a throw of 86.65m in the first attempt.

Tokyo Olympics Neeraj Chopra qualifies for Javelin finals with his first throw-VPN
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Tokyo, First Published Aug 4, 2021, 7:51 AM IST

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who made his debut maiden Olympic Games and is among India's medal contenders, reached the finals of the javelin event in his very first attempt in the Qualification Group A.

A benchmark of 83.50m was set to qualify for the final. But junior world record holder Neeraj secured the ticket to the final with a throw of 86.65m in the first attempt.

Besides Neeraj, only Finland's Lassi Etelatalo also managed to qualify directly in the first attempt. Lassi also crossed the qualification mark in his first attempt with his season-best throw of 84.50m.

The 23-year-old had qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.86m. He achieved the quota by breaking the Olympic qualifying mark of 85 meters at an event held in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in January 2020.

Meanwhile, the biggest surprise at the qualification Group A was Germany's Johannes Vetter, the 2017 world champion and one of the leading contenders for the gold medal in the javelin throw at Tokyo 2020. 

Vetter could not touch the qualification mark in the first two attempts. He could only reach the mark of 82.08. Although Vetter, who holds the record for the world's longest throw of 97.76 meters, did manage to qualify in the third attempt by throwing 85.64 meters. But he is still behind Neeraj.

Other than these three athletes, no other athlete was able to qualify directly. Romania's Mihaita Alexandru Novac (83.27m) was ranked fourth, while Czech Republic's Vitezslav Vesely (83.04m) was ranked fifth. They kept their hopes of the final alive with their season-best throws. However, they will have to wait for the result of the Group B qualification to reach the finals.

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