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

Called it a ‘special moment for Indian sports’, the Prime Minister termed the achievement a ‘great accomplishment’ of ‘one of the most distinguished athletes’ Neeraj Chopra.

Taking to Twitter to congratulate Chopra, PM Modi said, “A great accomplishment by one of our most distinguished athletes! 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.”

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

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

With 90.54 m throw, Grenada’s Anderson Peters won the gold medal while Olympic silver winner Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic took the bronze with 88.09m at the World Athletics Championships held at Eugene, Oregon.

Chopra began with a foul throw and had 82.39m and 86.37m to be at fourth after three rounds. He got his rhythm back with a big fourth round throw of 88.13m, his fourth career-best effort, to jump to second place, which he held on to till the end. His fifth and sixth throws were fouls.

Chopra had topped the Group A qualification round and qualified for the final at second place behind Peters by sending his spear to 88.39m for his third career-best throw. Peters had topped Group B with an effort of 89.91m.

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

Chopra, only the second Indian to have won an individual gold in the Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who clinched the yellow metal in 2008 Beijing Games, had won Indian athletics’ maiden gold in the Tokyo Olympics last year. 

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