Neeraj Chopra misses Doha Diamond League title by a whisker, finishes second
Neeraj Chopra threw 88.36m in his final attempt, just two centimetres short of eventual champion Jakub Vadlejch’s 88.38m throw
image for illustrative purpose
Tokyo Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra missed winning the Doha Diamond League title by a whisker when he threw 88.36m in his final attempt, just two centimetres short of eventual champion Jakub Vadlejch’s 88.38m.
In a game of fine margins, Neeraj saved the best for the last throw but just fell short of the winning mark at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on Friday night.
Neeraj’s compatriot Kishore Jena finished ninth in the 10-man field with a best attempt of 76.31m. Kishore was eliminated after three throws.
The 26-year-old started with a foul but soon sent the javelin soaring to 84.93m in his second attempt.
Meanwhile Jakub Vadlejch grew in strength with a 86.93m throw in his second attempt and then followed it up with 88.38m, which would eventually become the biggest throw of the night.
Neeraj then went 86.24m in his third attempt.
Anderson Peters of Grenada, who is also one of Neeraj's fierce competitors, slowly began throwing well, with 85.75m being his best in his first three throws.
Vadlejch had a sub-par fourth throw, managing just over 84m, giving the Indian a glimmer of hope for a big throw.
Neeraj went 86.18 in his fourth attempt, still short of the 88.38m mark that Vadlejch had thrown.
With the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist fouling his last two throws, it was down to Neeraj and Peters to break the 88.38m mark in their final throws.
While the Indian just managed to draw close to Vadlejch's attempt, Peters sent the javelin 86.62m to finish third.
The Doha Diamond League is Neeraj’s first tournament in the season. The Indian will play in the Federation Cup and the Paavo Nurmi Games in June before shifting focus to the Paris Olympics 2024, where Neeraj will be gunning to defend his gold medal.
Although Neeraj looked a little rusty, early on, he managed to pull himself up but the focus for the Tokyo Olympic and Asian Games gold medalist will be to breach the 90m mark before the Olympics to get the monkey off his back.
