Medal contender Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian javelin thrower to enter the finals of the Olympic Games with a stunning throw of 86.65m in his opening attempt that put him on top of the qualification round on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old kept India’s hopes of an elusive Olympic medal from athletics alive by earning a direct entry into the finals to be held on Saturday as he sent the spear well past the qualifying mark of 83.50m in his first attempt.
However, Shivpal Singh, failed to make the final cut with a below-par best throw of 76.40m, which he came up in his first attempt, to finish a lowly 12th in the Group B qualification which featured 16 athletes.
Competing in his first Olympics, Chopra took just a few seconds to make the final round. He topped the Group A contest as well as the two qualifications rounds and left the javelin arena after his first throw.
“I am at my first Olympic Games, and I feel very good. In warm-up my performance wasn’t so good, but then (in the qualifying round) my first throw had a good angle, and was a perfect throw,” Chopra said after his event.
Chopra is, however, under no illusion that the final will be a totally different contest where the world’s best will go for podium finish.
“It will be a different feeling (in the finals), since it is my first time in the Olympics. Physically we (all) train hard, and are ready, but I also need to prepare mentally.
“I will need to focus on the throw, and try to repeat this (performance) with a higher score,” said the youngster who came into the Olympics with the fourth best throw (88.07m) this year.
Chopra’s performance on Saturday will go down as one of the best performances by an Indian in the Olympics, as he finished ahead of Gold medal favourite and 2017 world champion Johannes Vetter of Germany.
Vetter, who had earlier said that Chopra will find it tough to beat him in the Olympics, struggled in his first two throws before crossing the automatic qualification mark with a 85.64m final throw.
The 28-year-old towering German, who came into the Olympics after having seven monster throws of over 90m between April and June, was lying at a dangerous seventh position after his first two throws but eventually qualified for the final at second overall behind Chopra.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who had won a Bronze medal when Chopra clinched Gold in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, topped Group B to earn an automatic qualification to the finals with a second round throw of 85.16m.
He qualified for the finals at overall third behind Chopra and Vetter.