In a historic achievement, India’s Neeraj Chopra made history by becoming the first Indian to win gold in the men’s javelin throw event at the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest, Hungary.
The 25-year-old Olympic champion demonstrated exceptional prowess with a remarkable throw of 88.17m, defeating Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who claimed the silver with a season’s best of 87.82m.
The ‘golden boy of Indian athletics’ marks a significant milestone for Indian athletics, fulfilling his dream of securing gold at the world championships.
After the historic win, he expressed happiness of adding another title to his nation’s tally. He said, “This has been a great championships for India and I am proud to bring another title to my country.”
Before Chopra, India’s Anju Bobby George was the only one to win a bronze medal in the women’s long jump back in 2003 at the World Athletics Championships in Paris.
Even though Chopra qualified for finals registering a season-best of 88.77m and wining gold for India, Chopra expressed his desire of performing better. “I don’t think I am the best thrower here. I wanted to throw more,” Chopra said after winning gold medal.
“I wanted to throw more than 90m but it needs all parts of the puzzle to be there. I couldn’t put it all together this evening. Maybe next time,” he added.
The Budapest event witnessed a captivating showdown between Chopra and Nadeem as India, Pakistan always has an intense sporting rivalry.
Chopra’s contribution to Indian athletics would be an inspiration for sport aspirants of the country and have had set a new benchmark for excellence in javelin throwing.
With his win at Budapest, Chopra now has won every major title possible in his sport—including gold at 2020Olympic Games, 2018 Asian Games, 2018 Commonwealth Games, the Diamond League title and Silver at 2022 world championship.
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