GOLD COAST: Neeraj Chopra became India’s first javelin champion at the Commonwealth Games and joined the country’s small band of athletics gold medallists with a mighty throw of 86.47m on Saturday.
The 20-year-old said staying relaxed was the key after he won by nearly four meters from Australia’s Hamish Peacock, after Kenya’s ex-world champion Julius Yego failed to make the final.
With his surprise win, Chopra becomes only the third Indian man to win athletics gold at the Commonwealths, after Milkha “Flying Sikh” Singh in 1958 and Vikas Gowda in 2014.
“I don’t remember which throw it was. I tried to get my personal best but I got my season best,” he said, after falling just 1cm short of his best throw yet.
“I’ve tried to enjoy myself here and not focus on any negatives, like ‘I don’t like this and I don’t like that’. You definitely get distracted by that,” added Chopra.
Chopra’s gold was among a number of Indian successes on the final day of full competition, following Mary Kom’s boxing win and Sanjeev Rajput’s victory in the 50m rifle three positions.
“I’ve been totally relaxed here, I’ve enjoyed myself. Most of the time people put too much pressure on themselves before the competition, thinking about food and sleeping and what not,” said Chopra.
“I tried to be natural because I was completely confident in how I’ve prepared myself.”
As competition continued on Saturday, India had 21 gold medals to lie third on the overall table, behind hosts Australia and England.
Neeraj Chopra makes history for India by landing Commonwealth Games javelin gold
Neeraj Chopra makes history for India by landing Commonwealth Games javelin gold
- The 20-year-old wins it with a throw of 86.47m
- He becomes only the third Indian man to win athletics gold at the Commonwealths
Al-Hilal win to cut Al-Nassr’s lead at the top to two points
- Reigning champions Al- Ittihad beat Neom 3-1 to end the year on a high after difficult title defence
- Leaders dropped their first points of the season on Tuesday after a 2-2 draw against Ettifaq
RIYADH: Al-Hilal have closed the gap on leaders Al-Nassr lead at the top of the Saudi Pro League table to two points after beating Al-Khollod 3-1 on New Year’s Eve.
The win saw Al-Hilal leapfrog Al-Taawoun into second place they now have 29 points from 11 matches, just two behind Al-Nassr, who on Tuesday dropped their first points of the season after a 2-2 draw with Ettifaq.
Al-Hilal took the lead through Sergei Milinkovic-Savic after 45 minutes there was still enough stoppage time for Ramiro Enrique to equalize form the penalty spot. Two second half goals from Theo Hernandez secured a vital three points for Al-Hila.
Earlier in the day reigning SPL champions Al-Itttihad beat hosts Neom 3-1 to go fifth in the table and end the year on n relative high after a difficult defence of their title so far in this campaign.
Roger Fernandes opened the scoring on 14 minutes from Steven Bergwijn’s assist, but Said Benrahma equalized 13 minutes later for teams to go into the break on equal terms.
Second half goals by Bergwijn and Ahmed Al-Ghamdi secured a morale-boosting win for Al-Ittihad.
In Wednesday’s other match, Al-Qadsiah beat hosts Al-Shabab 3-2 to stay fifth in the table.
