In what turned out to be a short outing for Neeraj Chopra, the Tokyo 2020 gold medal winner achieved the Paris Olympics final qualification in his first throw of 89.34m. He did not need to throw any further in the competition, as his first throw was good enough to take him to the final of the event, that is scheduled to take place on 8th August.
Neeraj had a season’s best of 88.36m before this effort, which he surpassed quite easily. Unfortunately, the other Indian in the fray, Kishore Jena did not have enough in the tank to make it to the final of the event. He managed a best throw of 80.73m, while the direct qualification was set at 84.00m.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem Qualifies for Final Along with Neeraj Chopra
That’s not it. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem also made it to the final of the men’s javelin event. He threw 86.59m in his very first attempt, to play against Neeraj in the final. That also means, Arshad is the only Pakistani in Paris Olympics, to qualify for the final of any event.
As far as the other athletes in the fray are concerned, Germany’s Julian Weber qualified with a throw of 87.76m, followed by Julius Yego of Kenya at 85.97m, Jakub Vadlejch of Czechia, and lastly Toni Keranen with a throw of 85.27m. That means, Neeraj will get stiff competition from all these players, come the final of the men’s javelin on August 8.
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