Neeraj Chopra finishes fifth in Rabat Diamond League
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Neeraj Chopra came up with a best throw of 83.32m to finish fifth in the Javelin Throw at the Rabat Diamond League event on Friday. Magnus Kirt of Estonia finished first with a score of 89.75 while Andreas Hofman finished second with a final total of 88.58.
Neeraj Chopra justified all the faith in him when he hurled the javelin to a distance of 86.47m at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, falling short of his personal best record by just 0.01m. That made him the first ever gold medallist in that discipline from India as the Panipat-born star created history. However, the 20-year-old, who was the first Indian to win a World U-20 Championship gold in Javelin throw, could not live up to the expectations at the Rabat Diamond League and finished fifth with the score of 83.32. Chopra cleared the distance in his second throw of the day but could not improve on his effort thereafter.
He was in placed fourth till the last series of throws in which eventual champion Magnus Kirt of Estonia broke the meet record with a throw of 89.75. Germany’s Andreas Hofman took silver with a throw of 88.58 while Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic was third with a throw of 85.31m. Chopra, who has been training in Finland, had finished fourth in the first Diamond League in Doha, Qatar, with a personal best throw of 87.43m but hasn’t been able to conjure similar magic in the subsequent editions.
