In the early hours of Monday, reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra scripted history, yet again, by becoming the first Indian ever to win a gold medal in the World Athletics Championships. Neeraj finished with an elusive gold with a best throw of 88.17m in the men’s javelin final in Budapest. Following the medal haul, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all praise for the 25-year-old, hailing his achievement as a “symbol of excellence”.
Chopra, who bagged the silver in the World Championships last year, began with a foul throw but soared to the gold-medal winning spot after a throw of 88.17 m in his second attempt and he remained atop thereafter. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the incumbent Commonwealth Games champion, came the closest to threaten Neeraj’s bid for a gold after he bounced back from a sluggish start with hies best throw of 87.72 m in his third attempt.
The Indian failed to extend his lead at the top as his remaining attempts were of 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m, while Nadeem maintained his second position from the third round onwards, hence leading to a 1-2 for the Indo-Pak duo till the end. Jakub Vadlejch (86.67 m) of Czech Republic bagged the bronze.
On early Monday morning, PM Modi took to social media to share a priceless message for Neeraj, congratulating him on his stunning gold medal haul.
“The talented @Neeraj_chopra1 exemplifies excellence. His dedication, precision and passion make him not just a champion in athletics but a symbol of unparalleled excellence in the entire sports world. Congrats to him for winning the Gold at the World Athletics Championships,” he posted.
Neeraj wins historic gold
Neeraj became India’s first ever gold medallist at World Athletics Championships on Monday. With the win, India now has medals of all colours at the competition with a gold and silver belonging to Neeraj and bronze for Anju Bobby George, who had finished third in women’s long jump in the 2003 World Championships.
Neeraj also became the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to hold an Olympic gold and a World Championships title simultaneously. Bindra had won the World Championships title when he was 23, and the Olympics gold at 25. He is also the third javelin thrower in the history of the discipline to achieve the same after Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.
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