On Saturday, India’s star Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra ended up missing out on winning the Diamond Trophy as he fell short by only 1 centimetre at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels. Chopra’s third attempt of 87.86 metres was left behind Anderson Peters of Granada, who clinched an 87.87 metre throw in his first attempt. Germany’s Julian Weber delivered a throw of 85.97 metres and ended up finishing third.
Neeraj, who won a silver medal in the Paris Olympics got USD 12,000 for coming at second position while Peters, who won the Diamond Trophy for the first time in his career, got USD 30,000 prize money. Chopra clinched victory in the Diamond League trophy in 2022 before ending second last year and managed to seal his spot in the Brussels final after finishing fourth in the overall DL standings. The 26-year-old collected 14 points from his consecutive second-place finishes in Doha and Lausanne.
Neeraj Chopra hits 8⃣7⃣.8⃣6⃣ m and finishes second in Brussels #DiamondLeagueonJioCinema #DiamondLeagueonSports18 #DiamondLeagueFinal pic.twitter.com/C8WETcMFqB
— JioCinema (JioCinema) September 14, 2024
Earlier, Chopra received a silver medal after throwing the javelin for 89.45 metres at Paris Olympics 2024. He scripted history when he won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"There is no comparison with a gold medal. Winning back-to-back medals for your nation is good and taking a lap of the ground with your country's flag is always a wonderful feeling. But the national anthem playing when your flag goes up with you on top of the podium was missing”, Chopra said as quoted by AFP.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem was the one who clinched the gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 with a solid throw of 92.97 metres.
"I believed that I could cover more distance," he said while reacting to Nadeem's throw in Paris. "I leave this to God. Just prepare well, and give it a rip, the javelin will travel," he said.
