Chopra sets national javelin mark in Doha
NEW DELHI : Neeraj Chopra, fresh from claiming the javelin gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, broke his own national record at the IAAF Diamond League in Doha on Friday night.
The 20-year-old hurled the javelin to 87.43m in his second attempt in the high-voltage competition in the capital of Qatar, bettering his national record of 86.48m, achieved while winning the junior world championship in Poland in 2016 with an U-20 world record effort.
Chopra began with an effort of 81.17m while Germany’s world champion Johannes Vetter took early control with 91.56m. Chopra’s second attempt pitchforked him to second. He eventually finished fourth with Germany’s Rio champ Thomas Rohler (91.78) the winner.
Chopra’s CWG effort was 87.47, a centimetre short of his national record. However, he has succeeded in erasing that mark. It keeps the Haryana athlete on course to meet his target of going past the 90m mark that will establish him among the best.
The Athletics Federation of India has made it mandatory that a dope test must be conducted for the record to be ratified.
This is Chopra’s first full season facing elite competition at the senior level, and a strong showing in his first Diamond League meeting of the season would boost his confidence ahead of the Asian Games. The brightest prospect in India’s track and field was training in Germany in the build-up to the Gold Coast CWG. He is s now training under former German javelin great, Uwe Hohn, India’s coach in the discipline.