Neeraj Chopra Tops Javelin Qualification Round With 1st Throw, Final on Saturday
Neeraj Chopra was one of the three athletes to secure an automatic qualification to the final.
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Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the final of the men's javelin throw event.
He had the best throw in the qualification round, beating even Germany's gold medal favourite Johannes Vetter.
The final will be on 7 August at 4:30pm IST
He is considered India's best chance for a medal in track and field at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Neeraj Chopra has lived up to that billing, topping the qualification round of the javelin throw event.
Neeraj in fact required just one throw to qualify for the final, with his first shot going the distance of 86.65m. The automatic qualifying mark for the event was 83.50m.
The other Indian in the event, Shivpal Singh, managed a best throw of 76.40m but it wasn't enough for him to make the cut for the 12-man final.
The final of the javelin event will be on 7 August at 4:30 pm IST.
Chopra owns the national record in the event with his throw of 88.07m from the Indian Grand Prix in March this year.
On Wednesday in Tokyo, Neeraj topped both groups of qualification while Germany's Johannes Vetter was second with 85.64m. He needed all three of his attempts before he could make the cut.
The qualification rule of javelin throw at the Tokyo Olympics is that an athlete can make the final by either achieving the qualifying standard (83.5m) in their three throws or by finishing among the top 12 competitors in the event.
Only three throwers automatically qualified for the final from Group A. Germany's Johannes Vetter, who is the gold medal favourite, and Finland's Lassi Etelatolo are the other automatic qualifiers from the group. Vetter is the world number 1 and has a personal best of 97.76m. He has breached the 90m mark seven times this season.
A total of six throwers could cross the mark in the two groups, the remaining six made the cut for the final by virtue of being in the top 12.
Neeraj is making his Olympics debut in Tokyo after first grabbing eyeballs in 2016 when he broke the junior world record with a throw of 86.48m at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships. The throw was good enough to have won him a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics but the event came after the qualification time had passed and hence, he couldn't qualify for the Games.
Chopra began his season with a new national record of 88.07 metres at the Indian Grand Prix in March and followed it up with another commendable 87.80m throw at the Federation Cup.
He then headed to Europe to prepare for Tokyo 2020. There, Chopra threw 83.18m at a Lisbon meet for gold, managed another gold-winning effort of 80.96m in Sweden and threw an 86.79m at the Kuortane Games in Finland for bronze. All three events were held in June.
(With inputs from IANS)
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