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Indian javelin jumper Neeraj Chopra has begun the defense of his Diamond League title on a promising note by dominating the first stage of the prestigious one-day event in Doha on Friday 5 May.
The 25-year-old Olympic champion threw the javelin to 88.67m in his opening throw, which eventually won him first place in the men’s javelin event as other competitors in the fight could not surpass his performance.
However, Chopra was unable to better his personal best of 89.94m set last year. After his powerful opening putt of 88.67m, which was good for pole position, his other valid throws were 86.04m, 85.47m, no-mark, 84.37m, and his sixth and final throw was 86.52m.
In the post media interaction, Chopra was quoted as saying:
“It’s a really good start for me. I hope to be first in the next competition and keep my consistency during this season.”
Jakub Vadelich of the Czech Republic came second at the close distance with a throw of 88.63 metres, while world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada finished third with a throw of 85.88 metres. Vadlejch tried hard to close the gap, but narrowly missed catching the Indian bowler. He had streaks of 85.51m, 88.63m, 86.64m, unmarked, 88.47 and 84.76m.
While Peters’ best throw for the day was 85.88m. However, after his opening shot he struggled and was unable to cross 85 meters on his remaining throws. He had streaks of 83.68m, 83.69m, no throw, 82.22m and 81.93m.
However, the 2022 Indian Commonwealth Games champion in the men’s triple jump, Eldoz Paul, failed to make his Diamond League debut. Paul aimed to put in a good performance but fell short of 16 metres. His best jump was 15.84 metres, which was far from his personal best jump of 16.99 metres.
Paul’s season’s best jump was 16.61m at a local meet. Paul was on the injury list, but said he had made a full recovery. He was hoping to hit the 17-meter mark on a quality field, but missed.
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