Neeraj Chopra pipped two centimetres at Doha but shows he can produce a big throw at fag end too | Sport-others News

Two centimeters. In the end, that is all that separated Neeraj Chopra and the first place at the Doha Diamond League on Friday night. But once again at an event when he didn’t start as well as he would have hoped for, Neeraj showed that he could come up with a big throw till the very end. The Olympic and world champion threw 88.36metres with his sixth and final attempt, behind only the 88.38m that was thrown earlier Jakub Vadlejch.Neeraj, usually, is known for his fast starts. His incredible Tokyo gold was clinched with an 87.58m throw that came off his 2nd attempt. His current personal best of 89.94m at the Stockholm Diamond League meet in 2022 was his first attempt. At the Budapest World Championships in 2023, his horic gold medal-winning throw of 88.17m was with the second attempt. When asked in 2022 during a media interaction whether he saw a pattern in going big early, Neeraj had said, “I never want to think that pehle maar do, last mein relaxed chod do (Go big early and then be relaxed towards the end).”
Indeed so, as we now have seen a few times where Neeraj has shown he can fight back too, and that he doesn’t always have to set the pace. At the Oregon World Championships in 2022, where he clinched silver, he had to push his body to the limit with his fourth throw to climb up to second place from fourth. In Hangzhou at the Asian Games, the Indian sporting community got a pleasant surprise when Kishore Kumar Jena took the lead. But again, Neeraj dug deep and, at the end of a long and tiring season, managed to come up with his best throw of the year. That was off the fourth attempt too.

0.02 m short 🤏
A herculean effort from #NeerajChopra with his final attempt as he finishes second in Doha.#DiamondLeagueonJioCinema #DiamondLeagueonSports18 #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/RwjtbXsoQc
— Sports18 (@Sports18) May 10, 2024
Neeraj’s night in Doha got off to a lukewarm start. A foul for the first attempt, was followed 84.93m. He improved his mark with a third throw of 86.24m, but in his follow-through, it was just a small roar. It wasn’t the now-familiar ‘arms-up’ reaction as he released the javelin, so he had a fair idea that it wasn’t close to his best. Incidentally, the only time we actually saw Neeraj do that thing where he almost wills the javelin on to the further possible dance, it was for 86.18m. Not even Neeraj always gets it right.
In events since Tokyo, the one thing that Neeraj has invariably done is keep adding entries to his all-time top 10 throws. All of his top 10 entries as of now have come after the Tokyo Olympics but Doha was proving difficult.
With the top three decided, Neeraj had one shot left though. Vadljech was done with all his throws and 88.38m was the mark to beat. Up stepped Neeraj, doing his usual stretching routines deep on the runway as some fans tried to catch a glimpse of him in action from the stands. As he completed his runup and let the javelin go, there wasn’t a big reaction.
Cometh the hour
But what it turned out to be was yet another 88m+ throw. On the live broadcast, it appeared awfully close to Vadlejch’s best mark, but the official measurement came up just two centimeters short. Neeraj has often maintained that the most important thing for him at any event is to try and find ways to come up with the best throw of the night, more than just the absolute value of the number that pops up on the screens.
As it was confirmed that Vadlejch will finish ahead of Neeraj and two-time world champion Anderson Peters, the athletes exchanged smiles. They all knew that they had been in a right proper battle till the end.
“The most important competition for me this year is the Paris Olympics,” Neeraj said. “But Diamond League meetings are important too. Next time I will try to throw far and try to win. The support I am getting from the Indian people here in Qatar is always amazing, there aren’t enough words for me to thank them for their support.”
Vadlejch versus Neeraj have been close affairs. “It was a very close fight. Last year Neeraj beat me some four centimetres, so this was an even closer one and I am pleased that I won,” Vadlejch said.
Neeraj shared a warm moment with Peters as well, with the Grenadan regering 86.62m to signal that he is back in contention ahead of Paris. Peters, who won the 2022 Worlds gold medal ahead of Neeraj, had a tough 2023 after suffering nasty injuries in a brawl late in 2022. And incidentally, 2024 has begun with the same three men on the podium as Oregon 2022 but in the reverse order.
Kishore, meanwhile, couldn’t manage to make it to the top 8 after his first three throws on Diamond League debut as his 76.31m placed him 9th.
But for Neeraj, it will be a night to take plenty of positives from. With one final push at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium, Neeraj came up with his career’s ninth-best mark. That is a strong start as he builds up towards Paris.