Even though he wasn't at his best, recently honored world champion Neeraj Chopra placed second in the men's javelin competition at the Diamond League Meeting on Thursday with a throw of 85.71 meters.
The 25-year-old Chopra, who is also the current Olympic champion, made three throws, measuring 80.79 meters, 85.22 meters, and 85.71 meters, while all other three were fouls.
He came in last place, trailing Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch (85.86m), who had taken home the bronze in the World Championships. The Indian superstar, who had gone undefeated this season until Thursday, earned 23 points from three matches to qualify for the Diamond League finals, which will be held on September 17 in Eugene, Oregon, USA. Last year, he took home the Diamond League trophy.
His only two events were the Diamond League Meetings in Doha (May 5) and Lausanne (June 30), which he won. On Sunday, he earned a historic gold medal at the World Championships in Budapest with a throw of 88.17 meters.
Chopra had mentioned that after winning gold at the World Championships, he was experiencing some back and shoulder pain during the pre-event media briefing here. He suffered a groin strain during training in May and June, thus he wasn't fully fit for the main event.
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Chopra started off with a modest 80.79m, which placed him in second place, but he fouled his following two attempts, dropping him to fifth at the halfway point, when Julian Weber of Germany was in first place. Chopra, though, managed to clear 85.22m on his fourth attempt, moving him up to second. Vadlejch had already grabbed the lead by that point.
Chopra fouled his fifth throw once more, but his last throw was his best of the day, at 85.71 meters. Murali Sreeshankar placed sixth in the men's long jump after clearing 7.99 meters in the first round.
The field was led by Sreeshankar after the first round despite the fact that he had been unable to advance to the finals of the just-finished World Championships in Budapest. But as he was unable to improve upon his opening round jump, he gradually dropped out of the top three.
He started third and stayed there until the third round, but he dropped to fifth in the fourth and stayed there into the final round. Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, an Olympic and world champion, earned the gold with a high jump of 8.20 meters in the sixth and final round.
(With PTI inputs)
