Haryana boy first to clinch javelin gold at CWG
Gold Coast, April 14: Neeraj Chopra became India’s first javelin champion at the Commonwealth Games and joined the country’s small band of athletics gold medallists with a mighty throw of 86.47m on Saturday.
Overall, India had a successful day, winning eight gold medals. The boxers picked up three, the shooters added one, the wrestlers claimed a couple, while the paddlers and Chopra added one each on a golden that also yielded five silver and one bronze medal.
India held on to the third position in the medal tally with 59 medals — 25 gold, 16 silver and 18 bronze medals.
A farmer’s son from a village outside of Delhi, the 20- year- old Chopra said staying relaxed was the key after he won by nearly four metres from Australia’s Hamish Peacock on the Gold Coast.
With his surprise win, Chopra becomes only the third Indian man to win athletics gold at the Commonwealths, after Milkha Singh in 1958 and Vikas Gowda in 2014.
“I don’t remember which throw it was. I tried to get my personal best but I got my season best,” said the junior world champion, after falling just one centimetre short of his best throw yet.
“In my desperation for a personal best, I tried so hard that I tumbled over in my last two attempts,” added Chopra, who is trained by former world record- holder Uwe Hohn.
“I’ve tried to enjoy myself here and not focus on any negatives. You definitely get distracted by that.”
His path to gold was made a little easier after former world champion and Olympic silver medallist Julius Yego of Kenya failed to qualify for the final.
“One shouldn’t be too serious in life, it’s good to be disciplined but you should not overdo food restrictions,” he added, waxing lyrical on a host of subjects.
However, there was heartbreak for the men’s 4x400m relay team and 2014 Glasgow medallist triple jumper Arpinder Singh who missed the podium this time.
Neeraj is only the second Indian javelin thrower to claim a CWG medal behind Kashinath Naik, who fetched a bronze in the 2010 Delhi Games.
His compatriot Vipin Kashana finished fifth with a best effort of 77.87m.
Jinson Johnson, meanwhile, clocked 3 minutes and 37.86 seconds to finish fifth in the 12- man field. In the process, he bettered the earlier 23- year- old national record of 3: 38.00 set by Bahadur Prasd in 1995.
Arpinder finished an agonising fourth in the men’s triple jump event. Cameroon’s Marcel Mayack
II produced a personal best of 16.80m to put the Indian out of medal contention. Arpinder’s best effort was a 16.46m jump.
In the men’s 4x400m relay, the Indians had to pull out after Amoj Jacob hurt a hamstring. Consequently, A. Dharun, Jacob, Muhammed Anas and Rajiv Arokia could not even complete one lap during the race.
The women’s 4x400m relay team of Sonia Baishya, M. Poovamma Raju, Laxmanbhai Gayakwad Saritaben and Hima Das finished seventh.
Indian athletes thus ended their Gold Coast campaign with one gold, a silver and a bronze, the same number and colour as in the last Games in Glasgow in
2014.
— Agencies