File photo of Neeraj Chopra© Twitter
Neeraj Chopra needed just one throw at the ongoing World Championships to qualify for the finals as well as the Paris Olympics 2024. Neeraj was part of Group A at the qualification stage and he pulled off a brilliant throw of 88.77m. The qualification mark for the 2024 Olympics is 85.50m and the throw from the Indian athlete was more than enough. Neeraj, who won the gold in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, currently has a personal best of 89.94m but he is determined to breach the 90m mark in his career.
The 25-year-old Chopra’s qualifying round lasted just a few minutes as he sent the spear to his season’s best distance in his first attempt. He topped Group A qualification round.
Competing in the same group with Chopra, DP Manu also qualified after finishing third with a best throw of 81.31m which he produced in his second attempt.
Neeraj Chopra qualifies for the Paris #Olympics by entering the #WorldChampionships final with an 88.77m throw.
The Golden Arm Of #NeerajChopra
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Those who throw 83m or the top-12 best performers from both Group A and B qualify for the final.
A competitor gets three attempts in the qualifying round.
Germany’s Julian Weber was second with a best throw of 82.39m.
Defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who has been struggling for form this season, finished seventh with a best throw of 78.49m.
Kenya’s 2015 World Championships gold medallist Julius Yego was eighth with 78.42m.
Chopra’s World Championships qualifying round campaign on Friday is reminiscent of his performance during the same stage of competition in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
On that occasion also, he had needed just one throw of 86.65m to qualify for the final. The automatic qualifying mark was 83.50m at that time.
He later went on to win gold medal in the final with a throw of 87.58m to script history.
(With PTI inputs)
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