Indian Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, on Thursday, grabbed his second silver at the ongoing Asian Grand Prix in Jiaxing with a throw of 83.32 meters.
With the feat, Chopra also qualified for the 2017 World Championships, to be held in London in August.
The junior World Record-holder had earlier clinched a silver medal in the first leg of the competition with a throw of 82.11 meters. The Panipat-born athlete narrowly beat the qualification mark set for the men’s Javelin throw event, which is set at 83 meters.
“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,” Chopra was quoted as saying after the event.
Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Chao-Tsun claimed gold, recording a throw of 86.92 and thereby surpassing his own national record. Huang Shih Feng of Chinese Taipei finished third with a throw of 78.55 meters. Another Indian, Kheera Ravinder Singh finished just outside the top-three with a throw of 75.22 meters.
The upcoming World Championships will be Chopra’s first in his career. He burst onto the scene last year by setting the junior world Record at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland with a throw of 86.48 meters.
Meanwhile, long jumper Neena Varakil claimed gold with a jump of 6.37 meters in the second leg of the Grand Prix. China’s Xu Xiao Ling and Jiang YanFei finished second and third respectively. Varakil had earlier earned a silver medal with a jump of 6.46 meters in the first leg.
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