World Athletics Championships 2022: Neeraj Chopra’s date with history | More sports News – Times of India
Neeraj Chopra has nicely warmed up for what could be another epic landmark in his career. The Olympic champion, confident but not arrogant about his abilities, has finally launched his bid to end Indian athletics’ 19-year-long wait for a second medal at the World Championships, following long jumper Anju Bobby George’s bronze at the Paris edition of the Championships in 2003.
While a nation was asleep, the 24-year-old man from Panipat took to the field in Eugene (USA) to book his place in the finals of the men’s javelin throw competition.
Neeraj threw his spear to an impressive distance of 88.39m in his very first attempt during the qualification stage to sail into the final with consummate ease. The Indian is poised to finish among the medallists on early Sunday morning (IST) when the top-12 finalists line up at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Neeraj progressed to the final through the automatic qualification route after comfortably breaching the 83.50m mark. He didn’t take the field for the second time, preserving his energy for D-day.
Neeraj’s effort in Oregon was the third best-ever of his career after his personal best distance of 89.94m at the Wanda Diamond League in Stockholm and an equally sensational 89.30m at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku.
The defending champion, Grenadian Anderson Peters, topped the qualifiers with an effort of 89.91m, followed by Neeraj. Germany’s Julian Webber (87.28m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (85.23m) were the other two automatic qualifiers.
Neeraj’s teammate, Rohit Yadav, too, made the cut with a best throw of 80.42m to finish 11th among 12 qualifiers.
This is the first time Neeraj has made the Worlds final. In his debut outing at the 2017 Worlds in London, he had failed to qualify for the final round. He couldn’t clear the automatic qualification mark of 83m, with his best throw recorded being 82.26m.
Neeraj had missed the 2019 Worlds in Doha after failing to recover from an elbow surgery.
“It was a good start. I am also happy for Jakub (Vadlejch). I’ll give my 100 per cent in the final. Every day is different. I’ll just give my best. We don’t know who an throw far on any given day. There are so many throwers in good shape now. Five-six throwers have thrown personal best this year. They are all in excellent shape. There was a little bit of zigzag in my run-up. I shook a little bit, but it was a good throw,” Neeraj was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
ELDHOSE PAUL FIRST INDIAN TO QUALIFY FOR TRIPLE JUMP FINAL AT WORLDS
Later in the day, a promising Eldhose Paul became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the final of the men’s triple jump competition with his best effort of 16.68m. However, it was curtains for Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker, who missed out on qualification after finishing 17th and 19th respectively.
Another Indian, national record holder Annu Rani, who had qualified eighth after finishing fifth in her Group B qualifiers with the best throw of 59.60m, will compete in the women’s javelin throw final on Saturday morning.
Annu, competing in her second successive Worlds final, had failed to breach the automatic qualification mark of 62.50m during the qualifiers. But she managed to
reach the final after only three competitors could throw beyond the desired mark.
While a nation was asleep, the 24-year-old man from Panipat took to the field in Eugene (USA) to book his place in the finals of the men’s javelin throw competition.
Neeraj threw his spear to an impressive distance of 88.39m in his very first attempt during the qualification stage to sail into the final with consummate ease. The Indian is poised to finish among the medallists on early Sunday morning (IST) when the top-12 finalists line up at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Neeraj progressed to the final through the automatic qualification route after comfortably breaching the 83.50m mark. He didn’t take the field for the second time, preserving his energy for D-day.
Neeraj’s effort in Oregon was the third best-ever of his career after his personal best distance of 89.94m at the Wanda Diamond League in Stockholm and an equally sensational 89.30m at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku.
The defending champion, Grenadian Anderson Peters, topped the qualifiers with an effort of 89.91m, followed by Neeraj. Germany’s Julian Webber (87.28m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (85.23m) were the other two automatic qualifiers.
Neeraj’s teammate, Rohit Yadav, too, made the cut with a best throw of 80.42m to finish 11th among 12 qualifiers.
This is the first time Neeraj has made the Worlds final. In his debut outing at the 2017 Worlds in London, he had failed to qualify for the final round. He couldn’t clear the automatic qualification mark of 83m, with his best throw recorded being 82.26m.
Neeraj had missed the 2019 Worlds in Doha after failing to recover from an elbow surgery.
“It was a good start. I am also happy for Jakub (Vadlejch). I’ll give my 100 per cent in the final. Every day is different. I’ll just give my best. We don’t know who an throw far on any given day. There are so many throwers in good shape now. Five-six throwers have thrown personal best this year. They are all in excellent shape. There was a little bit of zigzag in my run-up. I shook a little bit, but it was a good throw,” Neeraj was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
ELDHOSE PAUL FIRST INDIAN TO QUALIFY FOR TRIPLE JUMP FINAL AT WORLDS
Later in the day, a promising Eldhose Paul became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the final of the men’s triple jump competition with his best effort of 16.68m. However, it was curtains for Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker, who missed out on qualification after finishing 17th and 19th respectively.
Another Indian, national record holder Annu Rani, who had qualified eighth after finishing fifth in her Group B qualifiers with the best throw of 59.60m, will compete in the women’s javelin throw final on Saturday morning.
Annu, competing in her second successive Worlds final, had failed to breach the automatic qualification mark of 62.50m during the qualifiers. But she managed to
reach the final after only three competitors could throw beyond the desired mark.
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