India’s superstar Neeraj Chopra was not at his absolute best in the first few round of throws at the Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday. Due to his injury woes, Chopra threw around 80-83 m mark, and the last time he threw around this level was in the Federation Cup, earlier in the season.
However, Neeraj, being the fighter he is, came back to catapult his javelin to a distance of 89.49 meters, which is his season’s best and also his second career-best. Grenada’s Anderson Peters, who won the Bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, won gold with a throw of 90.61 meters. Julian Weber of Germany finished third with 87.08 meters.
Meanwhile, Chopra was just 51 cms away from breaching the 90m mark and many feel that it is a matter of time before he goes past it. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist was disappointed after agonizingly missing the mark.
“The feeling wasn’t great at first, but I am happy with my throw, especially the second (career) best throw on my last attempt. It was a tough start, but the comeback was really nice and I enjoyed the fighting spirit I showed,” Chopra said after the event, as per PTI.
“Even though my early throws were around 80-83m, I pushed hard in the last two attempts finishing strong. Competing at this high level, it’s important to stay mentally tough and fight through.”
The 26-year-old is now expected to have his injury sorted and he will look to keep up the consistent performances in the upcoming tournaments.
