‘Special moment for Indian sports’: PM Modi congratulates Neeraj Chopra

Describing it as a “special moment for Indian sports”, the Prime Minister termed the achievement as a “great achievement” of “one of the most iconic athletes” Neeraj Chopra.

Taking to Twitter to congratulate Chopra, PM Modi said, “A huge achievement by one of our most iconic athletes! Congratulations to @Neeraj_chopra1 on winning the historic silver medal in the #WorldChampionships. This is a special moment for Indian sports. Best wishes to Neeraj for his upcoming endeavours.”

Chopra has now become the second Indian and the first Indian to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.

The great long jumper Anju Booby George was the first Indian to win a bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

In the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, Grenada’s Andersen Peters won the gold with a throw of 90.54m, while Olympic silver winner Jakob Vadlage of Czech Republic won the bronze with 88.09m.

Chopra started with a foul throw and finished fourth after three rounds with 82.39m and 86.37m. He regained his momentum with a massive fourth round throw of 88.13m, the fourth best effort of his career, to jump to second place, which he maintained till the end. His fifth and sixth throws were fouls.

Chopra had topped the Group A qualification round and qualified for the final, second only to Peters, sending his javelin to 88.39m for the third career-best throw. Peters topped Group B with an effort of 89.91m.

Earlier in June, Chopra also set a new national record in the Stockholm Diamond League with an opening throw of 89.94m.

Chopra is only the second Indian to win an individual gold at the Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, won Indian athletics’ first gold at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

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