NEERAJ CHOPRA WINS ASIAD GOLD WITH WORLD-CLASS SHOW

Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra wins javelin gold with a national record to boot


Neeraj Chopra is like some homespun Greek legend. A young, wild-haired Apollo borrowing Athena’s spear and infusing it with Zeus’s thunderbolt wrath. Running in with the weapon of choice, gaining propulsion to lunge in the air and crash onto the floor in that most unusual of follow-throughs, Neeraj strode upon the Asian Games athletics programme in the only way he can as the spear soared and soared in the humid Jakarta air.

He added yet another feather to his burgeoning young career with a thumping win in the men’s javelin – his 88.06m far and wide beyond the second-placed 82.22m by China’s Liu Qizhen, and Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, who took bronze. It was the sixth best throw of the season, bettering the national record he himself set earlier this year – 87.43m at the Doha Diamond League in May. On Monday, it seemed so effortless, so easy, almost as if he were flinging toothpicks into the air and they were landing where he wanted them to. Yet, we knew of the magnitude of the 20-year-old’s effort when he still missed the Games record by a mere 1.09m, set by Liu’s countryman, Zhao Qinggang with his 89.15m at the 2014 Incheon Games.


Neeraj, who burst onto the athletics scene with a U-20 World Championship gold in 2016, was in emulation mode on Monday. He became the first Indian athlete to win a gold in the Commonwealth and Asian Games in the same year since the great Milkha Singh in 1958 (400m gold in Cardiff and Tokyo). Also, India had last finished on the javelin podium way back at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, when Gurtej Singh won a bronze for the nation. “Of all the medals that I have won so far, this one takes the cake,” said the Panipat boy later. “I had a good outing and I am happy with it. I was expecting to set an Asian Games record, but it did not happen. I will stake take it,” he added.

Including Neeraj, Indians featured in seven athletics finals at the GBK Main stadium on Monday, and ended up finishing with three more silver in track and field. Dharun Ayyasamy set a new national mark in men’s 400m hurdles, veteran Sudha Singh (women’s 3000m steeplechase) and daughter of a daily wage earner, Neena Varakil (women’s long jump), also finished second to add to India’s medal tally long before the hinterland legend was capping the day with his powerful javelin bolts. It was India’s second gold in the Asian Games here after Tajinderpal Singh Toor’s in shot put two days earlier.

The 21-year-old Dharun, a thirdyear college student, pushed himself hard to settle for silver in the 400m hurdles where Qatar’s Abderrrahman Samba finished first with a Games record timing of 47.66 sec. Dharun’s feat at 48.96 was better than thirdplaced Takatoshi Abe of Japan (49.12). The man from Tamil Nadu bettered the 11-year-old national mark of Joseph Abraham set at the World Championships in Osaka in 2007.

Steeplechaser Sudha, winner of the gold in the 2010 Asian Games, came out with a silver here, but she had no qualms. Sudha had a slow start to the race and finished with a timing of 9:40.03, behind Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi (9:36.52). The bronze was won by Thi Oanh Nguyen of Vietnam (9:43.83). “I had a slow first one km, but I was faster thereafter. In Incheon (Asian Games), I had a better timing but had no medals to show for my effort. My target here was to win a medal and the timing was incidental,” she said.

The 32-year-old said that her critics had written her off due to her age, but she was happy to prove them wrong with the silver. She also said that she will be in fray for the 2020 Olympics. “If I am performing, I should keep competing,” she said.

Neena shone in the evening in the long jump even when she finished behind gold medal winner Thi Thu Thao Bui of Vietnam who jumped to a distance of 6.55m, her season best. Neena was a close second with 6.51 while Xioaling Xu of Chian took the bronze at 6.50. The girl from Kerala had deliberately delayed her arrival in Jakarta in order to avoid the “misfortune” she had to endure in Gold Coast in April.

Among other Indians in the final, Anu Raghavan and Jauna Murmu came fourth and sixth respectively in women’s 400m hurdles, while Shivpal Singh had just one throw out of six due to an elbow injury to finish 8th in men’s javelin. Nayana James failed to qualify for final and finished 10th in women’s long jump. Chinta came 11th in women’s 3000m steeplechase, Santosh Kumar finished 5th in men’s 400m hurdles. Shaker Lal Swami came 8th in men’s 3000m steeplechase, while Chethan Balasubramanya was 8th in men’s high jump.