New Delhi: Indian Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra, Star of India, Finished second on Friday in the Doha Diamond League with a best throw of 88.36m.
The Olympic and World champion came within just 2cm of Jakub Vadlejch’s winning distance of 88.38m.
Throughout the competition, which saw a Czech veteran Wadlec emerge victorious with a throw of 88.38 m in the third round, the Indian superstar was playing catch-up with him.
Chopra fell just two centimeters short of Wadlechi’s goal in his final round’s attempt and hence did not retain the title he won last year as Neeraj threw it for his last term to miss by two centimeters behind what Valdelega had achieved earlier.
Two-time world champion Anderson Peters finished third after throwing his personal best at 86.62 metres.
After three throws in Diamond League debut by Kishore Jena, he was dropped after three throws and scored 76.31m as his best throw. His first throw was at 75.72m followed by fouling at his second attempt until all runners took their turns three times in rounds where he finished ninth with a distance of 76.31m.
Last year he set a personal record, throwing for silver medal at Asian Games Hangzhou (87.54 m), but this time around on Friday things didn’t go well for him.
Wadleh also won silver medal in Tokyo Olympics and bronze medal during World Championships held in the year 2023 as Chopra claimed gold medals both events.
Chopra won this year’s Doha Diamond League with a throw of 88.67m ahead Wadleh (88.63) and Peters (85.88m).
This was Chopra’s first outing of the season, but before then he had struggled to score big shots, finishing ninth in his career after the 33-year-old Vadlejch who hung on to win the match.
Chopra started poorly however his second throw of 84.93m in the second round put him in second position behind Wadleh. His improved third-round attempt (86.24 m), which was his best for the day, but Vadlejch maintained top spot with a distance of 88.38m.
He also made throws of 86.18m and 82.28m in the next two rounds ending with a final throw that covered an area of 88.38m.
Friday’s meeting won’t have huge distances thrown by athletes on this big pitch of Qatar Sports Club Stadium since it will be played without tailwinds.
He has already won three Diamond League individual events and is set to take home the championship trophy in 2022.
Afterwards he will be taking part in the National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships at Bhubaneswar from May12th to May15th for his first home appearance in three years.
Jena will also participate in this event as well. Men’s javelin qualifying will take place on May14th while finals are scheduled for May15th.
His last domestic event was at Federation Cup held on March17th, 2021 when he threw gold medal winning distance of 87.80 m.
Afterward Chopra will then compete at Turku Pavo Nurmi Games, a prestigious meeting on June18th following this home participation.
The next Diamond League will be hosted by Paris and it’ll feature men’s Javelin event on July7th however men’s javelin competition takes place there too.
The athletes who come first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth ,seventh and eighth get 8 points, 7 points, 6 points, 5 points, 4 points, 3 points ,2 point or one point correspondingly in each DL meeting. The best six javelin throwers will make it to the Diamond League Finals in Brussels on September 13-14 where the champion will be awarded with the D L Championship trophy.
