Sports

India celebrates second-ever World Athletics medal as Chopra shines

New Delhi, Jul 24 (EFE).- India on Sunday celebrated a major sports success when javelin Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra bagged the silver medal at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Eugene, United States, marking just the second medal for an Indian sportsperson in the history of the competition.

“Congratulations to @Neeraj_chopra1 on winning a historic Silver medal at the #WorldChampionships. This is a special moment for Indian sports. Best wishes to Neeraj for his upcoming endeavours,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

A 88.13-meters throw secured the silver for Chopra in the final round of the javelin throw competition, behind Grenadian Anderson Peters, who defended his world title with a throw of 90.54 meters.

Chopra become just the second Indian to win a World Athletics medal and the first man to do so, after long jumper Anju Bobby George had won a historic bronze for the country in 2003.

“I am very happy today to have won the silver for the country. I will try to do better than this in next year’s world championship,” Chopra said minutes after achieving the feat, in a video shared by the Sports Authority of India.

Indian broadcasters showed jubilant scenes at Chopra’s residence, with his family members and friends celebrating his performance with live music and sweets.

After winning an unprecedented athletics gold for India in the Tokyo Olympics, Chopra was aiming for gold in Eugene to dominate the discipline.

In the Olympics, an 87.58-meters throw had fetched him the top spot ahead of Czech athletes Jakub Vadlejch (86.67) and Vítězslav Veselý (85.44).

Chopra had shown early promise in 2018 by becoming the first Indian to win the javelin gold at the Asian Games in Jakarta, before going on to make history at the Olympics in a country where athletics remains an underdeveloped sport with few successes at the world level. EFE

ia-hbc/ia

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