Olympic-bound star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra smashed his own national record with a throw of 88.07m, which is also the best of the year so far, in a sensational return to action during the third Indian Grand Prix meet here on Friday.
Chopra hurled the spear to a distance of 88.07cm in his fifth attempt to obliterate his earlier national record of 88.06m, sealed during the gold-winning effort at the 2018 Asian Games.
The 24-year-old Chopra opened the competition with an effort of 83.03m before having two foul throws. After a fourth throw of 83.36m, Chopra sent the javelin to 88.07m amid loud cheers from a sizeable audience at the NIS Patiala. His final throw was 82.24m.
Chopra qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in January last year in an event in South Africa during his training stint in that country. That was also the last competition he had taken part before Friday.
Another Olympic-bound javelin thrower, Shivpal Singh of UP, was second with a best throw of 81.63m while Sahil Silwal, representing Haryana, was third with a best effort of 80.65m.
The Tokyo Olympics qualification mark in men’s javelin is 85m and the Games record stands at 90.57m. The world record is, however, rather steep at 98.48m, set by Czech Republic's Jan Zelezny in 1996.
There were other quality performances that also drew the attention of critics and fans alike. Para-athlete Sumit Antil, has also qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics, competed against able-bodied athletes in the javelin throw event and recorded a mark of 66.43m.
In the women’s events, Annu Rani tryst with throws in excess of 60m continued as she produced a best of 61.98m on Friday.