               Neeraj Chopra wins first ever gold for India
Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra became the first ever Indian to win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary yesterday.
In a historic moment, Neeraj recorded the best throw of 88.17m to trump Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem in a closely contested final with the thrower from Pakistan winning silver.
Starting with a foul throw in his first attempt, Neeraj Chopra established his lead with a throw of 88.17m in the second throw. Only Arshad Nadeem came close with a throw of 87.82m. Olympic silver medalist Jakub Vadjlech of the Czech Republic won silver with the best throw of 86.67m.
Other India throwers, Kishore Kumar Jena and DP Manu recorded a credible performances to finish in fifth and sixth place respectively. The 27-year-old Jena recorded his personal best with a throw of 84.77m while DP Manu had a best throw of 84.14m. Neeraj Chopra completed World Athletics with his gold medal at the World Championships. With this gold medal, Neeraj Chopra has won all the major titles at the senior level.
Neeraj won his first continental accolade in 2017 when he won a gold medal at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships with a throw of 85.23m in Bhubaneshwar, India. In 2018, Chopra did a double by winning gold medals in both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. Neeraj threw 86.47m in Gold Coast to become the Commonwealth Champion.
He came with 88.07m, then national record, in Jakarta to win the Asian Games gold. Also Read – World Athletics C’ships 2023 Finals: Neeraj Chopra becomes World Champion – Highlights In 2021, Neeraj became Olympic champion with a throw of 87.58m and ended a wait of 121 years for a medal in Athletics.
He followed it up by winning the 2022 Diamond League final with a throw of 88.44m. Only a World Championship gold medal eluded his medal cabinet as he came close with a silver medal in the 2022 edition. Second Indian to become Olympic and World Champion at same time Neeraj Chopra became the only second Indian to hold both Olympic and World titles at the same time. He follows in the footsteps of the first Indian Olympic gold medalist, Abhinav Bindra.
Abhinav Bindra, who won the gold medal in the 10m air rifle in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was a World Champion going in the tournament as he had won the 2006 Shooting World Championships. Neeraj, on the other hand, became the Olympic champion first in Tokyo and then clinched the World title today.
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