Neeraj Chopra qualifies for Javelin world championships by winning silver in Asian Grand Prix

Neeraj Chopra qualifies for Javelin world championships by winning silver in Asian Grand Prix

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Indian Javelin star Neeraj Chopra won a silver medal in the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix Athletics meet in Jiaxing (China) on Thursday and thus qualified for the IAFF World Championships to be held in London in August. Neeraj had won the silver in the first leg on April 24 as well.

The world junior record holder hit 83.32m for the silver and thus crossing 83-metre mark needed for world championship qualification. Chopra had a career-best of 86.48m - the junior world record – on his way to becoming the first Indian to win a World Championship at any level. In the Asian Grand Prix, Chao-Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei (86.92m) won the gold medal.

Speaking after his medal-winning performance, Neeraj said, "I'm extremely happy to have hit the qualification mark for the IAAF World Championships. I've been in training with my coach Garry Calvert and it feels amazing to be able to finally achieve what I had come here for. There's a lot of room for improvement and I'll be looking to do better at the World Championships,” reported NDTV.

Meanwhile, Neena Varakil bagged the gold medal in women's long jump to add to India tally of six medals in the second leg of the meet. Neena, who had also won gold in the first leg, produced the best jump of 6.37m in the sixth and final round to secure the gold medal. 

Manpreet Kaur (women's shot put), Dutee Chand (women's 100m) and Tintu Luka (women's 800m) won the silver medal in their respective disciplines while Om Prakash Karhana (men's shot put) had to be satisfied with a bronze.

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