Finance
Neeraj Chopra, India’s world champion and Olympic gold medalist javelin thrower, became the first from his country to reach the 90-meter mark, a much-discussed milestone, during the Doha Diamond League on Friday.
Neeraj finished second in the season-opening event with a throw of 90.23 metres, trailing Germany’s Julian Weber, who threw a massive 91.06 metres in the final round of throws to beat the Indian.
Nonetheless, Neeraj, with a new national record of 90.23 m (beating his previous record of 89.94 m established during the Stockholm Diamond League 2022), and as the first Indian to accomplish the coveted mark, which was widely reported and disputed in the media, leads all Indian athletes.
Neeraj rose to prominence as a youngster, winning gold medals in the South Asian and World U20 Championships (2016), as well as a silver at the Asian U20 Championships (2016) and an Asian Championships gold in 2017.
His first breakthrough came in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, where he won gold with an effort of 86.47 meters, becoming the first Indian javelin thrower to do so.
Neeraj also became the country’s first javelin thrower to win a gold medal at the Asian Games that year, throwing 88.04 meters.
Neeraj’s current high-profile prominence stems from his Tokyo Olympics medal. On that historic day of August 7, Neeraj threw his javelin 87.58 meters into the air, propelling his career to the next level of prominence. There were numerous advertising offers, endorsements, media mics, social media following, and so on, but none of them disturbed a champion’s ‘The Zone’.
He became the first Indian male to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Eugene, US, capturing silver with a throw of 88.13 metres. He was the second Indian medalist in the event, following Anju Bobby George (bronze in 2003).
In Zurich later that year, in September, he became the first-ever Indian to become the Diamond League champion, with a throw of 88.44 m.
The next year was a bumper one for Neeraj as, with a throw of 88.17 m at Budapest, Neeraj became India’s first-ever athletics world champion. In the same year, he defended his Asian Games title in Hangzhou.
Neeraj was anticipated to defend his title at the Paris Olympics next August, and he entered the event as a hot favourite due to his consistency. However, only one of his throws (89.45 m) was ruled legitimate, and he finished second to arch-rival Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, who threw 92.97 m, setting an Olympic record.
Despite his ailments, Neeraj came out firing. After ample time away from the game to recover from his injuries, and now under a new coach, Jan Zelezny, Neeraj eventually made up for Paris’ mild disappointment by breaking the 90-meter barrier for the first time in Doha during the Diamond League.
With this throw, one could reasonably claim Neeraj has done everything. Surely, there are many more events to compete in and gold medals to add, but he has checked all the boxes.
Several renowned Indian players have left some unrealized dreams. Sania Mirza, who helped to establish Indian women’s tennis, was unable to complete a singles Grand Slam. Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest batters of his generation, was unable to win a World Cup as a player despite his exceptional abilities. Despite their enormous football talent, Sunil Chhetri and Bhaichung Bhutia were unable to help India qualify for the FIFA World Cup during their playing careers. Most recently, Virat Kohli, proclaimed as an ambassador of Test cricket, called curtains on his days in the format without touching the prestigious 10,000 run mark.
However, Neeraj may have left little to be desired. Fans will undoubtedly want more, possibly even a world record to his credit, but he has entered the ranks of rare Indian athletes who have done it all and won all.
Source: Ktv
