Neeraj Chopra provides India’s ‘Silver’ lining at Paris Olympics

Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem breaks the Olympic Record in the men's javelin throw final with a monster heave of 92.97 metres

Paris: Neeraj Chopra’s hopes of winning a second successive gold medal to add to his first from Tokyo failed to materialise and the Indian had to be satisfied with a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw final in the Paris Olympics on Thursday night.

Chopra, who came into the final as the favourite with a brilliant effort of 89.34 metres in the qualifying, threw the javelin to 89.45, his second-best ever effort a clear improvement on the 87.58 that bagged him the gold medal in Tokyo. But that did not prove enough for the reigning World Champion and Diamond League final winner as Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, his good friend on the circuit, upstaged him by setting the Olympic Record to win the gold medal.

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Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem broke the Olympic Record in the men’s javelin throw final with a monster heave of 92.97 metres to upstage the Indian Tokyo Olympic Games gold medallist. Nadeem had finished fourth in Tokyo and had struggled with injuries and financial crunch in the interim period.

But on Thursday, Nadeem came up with a sensational effort to win the gold. That gigantic throw of 92.97 put Nadeem at the top of the standings and he remained in that position managing throws of 88,72, 79.40m, and 84.87m and then ended the competition with a throw of 91.79 metres, the second time somebody crossed the 90m mark twice in the Olympics, as he became Pakistan’s first gold medallist in individual competitions in the Olympics.

Anderson Peters of Granada took the bronze medal with a best throw of 88.54 metres. Chopra started the final with a foul on his first attempt, Nadeem too fouled his first throw while Trinidad’s Keshorn Walcott took the lead with a throw of 86.16m while Anderson Peter was second at 84.70. The Indian star did not look convincing in any of his throws except on the second turn, which was his lone legal throw on the night.