India at Tokyo Olympics Athletics LIVE: Neeraj Chopra ready for Johannes Vetter’s challenge for a medal in Javelin Throw Final- Follow LIVE updates: Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who made headlines for the last few months for his brilliant gameplay, is all set to compete against Johannes Vetter. He will be aiming to go past the 90M mark as he chases history to help India clinch GOLD at Tokyo Olympics. He will be looking to bring an end to over 100-year-old medal drought for India at Athletics. Notably, India is yet to win a medal in athletics after Norman Pritchard won silver in 200m on July 22, 1900. The mouth-watering battle will see the top eight get six throws each.
All eyes will be on Neeraj Chopra as looks to get the better off Germany’s Johannes Vetter. While the German managed to qualify in his third attempt, Neeraj was through with his first throw itself.
2017 World Champion Vetter has consistently crossed the 90m mark in big events. In the last three years, he has crossed the hallowed mark a jaw-dropping 17 times. He had even touched 96.21m in May while Neeraj has the second-best performance with a best of 88.07m. The latter is expected to face a stiff challenge from another German Julian Weber, and Lasi Etelanto (Finland), Andrian Mardare (Moldovan).
India at Tokyo Olympics LIVE: Neeraj Chopra and his 5 Gold Medal challengers in Javelin throw
“For me, throwing 90m is like riding a bike, Normal, Really Easy,” Vetter said as quoted by Indian Express.
He didn’t rule out the impact Neeraj Chopra could have in the match.
“He was throwing really far in 2016, throwing 86.48. Now he is able to throw 88, so the improvement is not big. But he is a talented guy so if he stays healthy and gets a little more relaxed in competition, then he can throw 90m,” he said.
“Neeraj is doing a lot of track and field. I did not think of India as a track and field country but then a few years ago, we did not think there would be a world champion from Kenya (Julius Yego),” he further stated.
Four-time Olympian Vikas Gowda feels that it is tough to predict as anything can happen. “Neeraj is definitely one of the best javelin throwers in the world but it’s hard to predict, anything can happen on that day,” he told The Times of India.
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