Neeraj Chopra won the silver medal at the ongoing World Athletics Championship 2022 on Sunday in Javelin to become only the second Indian athlete after Anju Bobby George to clinch a medal at the World Championships.
The 24-year-old achieved a spectacular 88.13m throw in his fourth attempt, but he had to settle for the silver with Anderson Peters on Grenada taking home the gold medal. Coming the World Championships, Peters was the hot-favourite to challenge Chopra for the gold.
But did you know, if not for Usain Bolt, Anderson Peters could have pursued cricket as a career?
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As a child, Peters used to play cricket in the streets and he dreamed of emulating the likes of Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar by bowling at 90mph. However, when Usain Bolt broke onto the scene in athletics, everything changed in Peters' life.
The youngster was now dreaming of following in the footsteps of the Jamaican legend, however, his life was turned upside down when an injury forced him out of cricket. However, Javelin was the closest to fast bowling and it was like the best of both worlds for Peters.
Just like fast bowling in cricket, Javelin throw also requires a runup, a break and exceptional shoulder strength to hurl the Javelin to great distances. Peters took up the sport and he's come a long way since.
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But did you know that the World Championships gold medalist from Grenada began his career at the same time as Neeraj Chopra did?
They are both 24 years of age, and they both made their bow at the 2016 Under-20 World Championships. In his early years, Chopra had overshadowed Peters. Neeraj won gold at the U20 Championships in 2016, while Peters clinched bronze. At Commonwealth Games 2018, a similar pattern followed.
Neeraj produced a gold medal throw at the Tokyo Olympics, and Peters couldn't even qualify for the men's final. However, since the Olympics, Peters has upped the ante and he has been breaching the 90m mark consistently.
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Fans will be hoping that Neeraj can go one step better in his rivalry with Anderson Peters when they will faceoff at the Commonwealth Games next month.
