On Wednesday, Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra rocked the Federation Cup and won his first gold at home in three years in the men’s final javelin throw at a hot and humid Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The Indian star athlete, who recently finished second at the Doha Diamond League in Doha, Qatar, started on a slow and steady start in this competition, but he slowly gathered his pace and won the fourth round with an 82.27-metre throw.
However, the Indian star was not satisfied with his performance, despite winning gold in his first home game. DP Manu of Karnataka finished second and won a silver medal with an 82.06-metre effort.
Neeraj Chopra On His Performance
While speaking to the press today, Neeraj Chopra said that he didn’t want to speak about his performance yesterday, but he said that he loved to compete and play in his homeland, especially when he was competing against talented competitors like DP Manu, Asian Games medalist Kishore Jena, etc. Neeraj Chopra won the gold with his best effort of 82.27 meters, which was far lower than his best figure of 89.94 meters, which he archived at the Stockhold Diamond Centre in Stockhold, Sweden, and it still stands as the best figure for Chopra.
However, the Tokyo Olympics gold medalist was trailing and facing intense competition from Karnataka’s DP Manu, who was in the first position with his three throws. Neeraj Chopra said that the performance was not up to the mark that he expected. But he stated that ‘It felt great to compete in India after a long time. I wanted to play in India and I performed according to the conditions, and the way my body was feeling. I have some big competitions coming up. I thought DP Manu would take over but his javelin kept landing quickly.’
Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in men’s javelin throw event of the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar. Our Golden Boy 🥳🥳🥳🥳🔥#neerajchopra #goldenboy pic.twitter.com/8rMu5SSkFk
— Ms.पॉजिटिविटी 🇮🇳 (@No__negativtyxd) May 15, 2024
Both Neeraj Chopra and DP Manu battled in the entire game, with DP Manu having most of the leads, but he couldn’t cross the figure of Neeraj’s last throw of 85.50 m as he struggled in the last round.
Neeraj’s Four Throws
Neeraj Chopra explained the situation and why he decided to stop throwing just after four throws. He highlighted the fact that after the Doha Diamond League and the upcoming competitions, he was exhausted, and he also said that the hot and humid weather in Bhubaneswar was also responsible for his exhaustion. In the Doha Diamond League, Chopra finished second behind the Czech athlete Jakub Vadlejch with 88.38m and Chopra’s best effort of 88.36m.
Neeraj Chopra said that he competed in this tournament right after the Doha tournament, which didn’t allow him to get any rest in the way, and he was not feeling so good in the match. So, after this win, he will take 10 days to recover and compete in the upcoming competitions.
Neeraj on winning Gold medals
Neeraj always focused on the fact that winning gold medals always comes with the massive and sweatier task of finishing the match with bigger throws. The Olympic gold medalist was heavily rooted and welcomed by the Indian fans at the Kalinga stadium, as many fans rooted for him in this competition. After the end of the game, the rest of the javelin throwers gathered around Neeraj and posed for a photograph with him to show respect to one of the finest athletes in India.
Neeraj Chopra will be back in action at the Golden Spike, which is going to be held in the Czech Republic on May 28. After that, he will be seen at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, on June 18 and in the Paris Diamond League in the first week of July.
