Neeraj cruises to men’s javelin title
GOLD COAST: Neeraj Chopra was competing against himself in javelin throw on Saturday. In a depleted field, it is easy to lose focus and get overconfident – lack of competition making one complacent. Neeraj did not allow any of this as he won gold. It was only the fifth gold India have won in track and field after joining Milkha Singh (1958), Krishna Poonia (2010), the women’s 4x400m relay team (2010) and Vikas Gowda (2014).
This is only the second medal in javelin that India have won at the Commonwealth Games after Kashinath Naik, who claimed bronze at New Delhi in 2010. Though the former junior world champion and Asian titlist was happy with the feat, the 20-year-old was not satisfied with his performance. He missed getting to his personal best by a centimeter, and that kept bothering him. He managed to win gold comfortably with a throw of 86.47m, which was his season’s best. But in his eagerness to achieve his personal best, the youngster from Haryana made a mistake. Neeraj was the favourite to win gold after Kenya’s Julius Yego, the Olympic and Worlds silver medallist, failed to qualify for the final. After fouling his biggest throw, the Kenyan could not achieve the qualifica- tion mark of 78.00m.
Neeraj made the qualifying mark in his first throw and in the final nailed it with 85.50m on his first attempt as none in the fray came anywhere close to his mark. In his fourth attempt, he touched 86.47. Australia’s Hamish Peacock finished second with 82.50 while Grenada’s Andersan Peters took bronze with 82.20m.
‘IMPORTANT MEDAL’
“It is a very important medal for me and I am happy to win. I wanted to touch my personal best and missed it by a centimetre. In my desperation to get there, I tried so hard that I tumbled in my last two attempts. But I have lot of competition this year to achieve the personal best,” Neeraj said.
Neeraj was happy to achieve a big one on his first throw.
“It makes a lot of difference when you manage to get a first throw like that. It builds pressure on others. As for me, I was not under pressure, I was wellprepared,” he said.
For support, Neeraj had friend Vinesh Phogat in the stands before the wrestler went to the adjacent Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre to win gold.