Doha: Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has shattered his own national record by clearing a distance of 87.43m en route finishing fourth in a star-studded field in the season opening Diamond League series meeting here, Friday.
Olympic champion Thomas Rohler (91.78m) won the gold while Vetter was second with 91.56m while world champion Johannes Vetter (91.56m) bagged the silver. Andreas Hoffman (90.08m) came third as the Germans swept all the top three spots.
Up against the stalwarts of the game, the 22-year-old Neeraj, a gold medallist in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast last month wasn’t intimidated as he sent the spear to 87.43m in his second attempt to better his earlier national mark of 86.48m beating 2017 London World Championships silver medallist Czech Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m) to fifth in the process.
The Panipat-born Neeraj began with a 81.17m, then came up with 87.43m before fouling his next three attempts. He had a 81.06m in his sixth and last throw. He had the earlier national record of 86.48m when he won the gold in the 2016 World Junior Championships in Poland.
Just before this tournament started, Vetter had said that Neeraj should be able to throw between 88m to 90m this year itself and going by his consistent performances in the last few months it’s just a matter of time that neeraj touches that mark.
Neeraj will next take part in the Eugene (United States) leg of the Diamond League series May 26 and there again he will be up against Rohler, Vetter, Hoffman and Vadlejch.
Press trust of india
