By – Prakarsh Kastwar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the 25-year-old after he won the medals, calling his accomplishment a “symbol of excellence”
Neeraj Chopra, the current Olympic champion, made history early on Monday by becoming the first Indian to ever win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships. In the men’s javelin final in Budapest, Neeraj won the illusive gold with a best throw of 88.17 meters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the 25-year-old after he won the medals, calling his accomplishment a “symbol of excellence”
Chopra, who won the silver medal at the World Championships the year before, started out poorly but quickly rose to the top after throwing 88.17 meters on his second attempt, where he stayed for the rest of the competition. Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, the current Commonwealth Games champion, came the closest to endangering Neeraj’s chances of winning the gold when he recovered from a slow start by throwing his best throw of 87.72 meters in his third try.
The Indian was unable to increase his lead at the top since his subsequent tries were 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m, and 83.98m, while Nadeem remained in second place starting in the third round. This resulted in a 1-2 finish for the Indo-Pak pair until the very end. The bronze medal went to Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch (86.67 m).
Early on Monday, PM Modi sent a beautiful message on social media to congratulate Neeraj on his incredible gold medal haul.
“The gifted @Neeraj_chopra1 is a prime example of brilliance. His commitment, accuracy, and enthusiasm make him more than simply an athletics champion; they also elevate him to the status of a par excellence in all of sports. I’m happy for him because he won the gold at the world athletics championships,” he wrote in a post.
Neeraj wins historic gold
On Monday, Neeraj won the first gold medal in Indian history at the World Athletics Championships. With the victory, India now has medals in every color at the competition. Neeraj won gold and silver, and Anju Bobby George, who had placed third in the women’s long jump at the 2003 World Championships, won bronze.
Neeraj also succeeded Abhinav Bindra as the second Indian to carry a gold medal from the Olympics and a World Championships championship at the same time. At the ages of 23 and 25, Bindra won the World Championships and the Olympics, respectively. He is also the third javelin thrower in the discipline’s history to accomplish the same feat, behind Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway and Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic.