Neeraj Chopra Javelin Throw Final: Finished second in qualifying

Eugene , dated 22

The golden superstar of Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj Chopra, has now prepared to give India its first gold medal in the World Athletics Championship as well. In the ongoing World Athletics men's javelin throw event in Eugene, USA, Neeraj qualified for the final with a throw of 88.39 meters in his first attempt. Neeraj finished second in qualifying. While the defending champion Andersen Peters of Granada stood first with a throw of 89.91 meters. Notably , Neeraj won the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.58 meters.

India has so far won the only medal in the history of the World Athletics Championships. Anju Bobby George gave India a bronze medal in the women's long jump event at the 2003 Paris World Championships. Now Neeraj is expected to give India its first ever gold medal in the World Athletics Championship.

India's Rohit Yadav was also competing in the men's javelin throw event. He achieved a distance of 80.42m in the first throw and finished 11th among the 12 javelin throwers who qualified for the final. With this, for the first time, two players from India entered the final in the javelin throw event of World Athletics.

Anderson secured the top two positions with a throw of 89.91 and Neerj 88.39 meters. Junior Weber of Germany got the third place. He also threw 87.28 meters in the first attempt. While Jakub Valdejch of Czech Republic finished fourth with a throw of 85.23 meters. So now it seems that the real competition in the final will be seen between the defending champion Peters of Grenada and India's Neeraj Chopra. Earlier both the contestants competed in the Stockholm Diamond League. Anderson stood first and Neeraj stood second. Neeraj expressed his intention to achieve the distance of 90 meters only then. He can now make it to the final on Sunday morning Indian time.