Eugene| India's golden boy and superstar javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has repeated his heroics once again. Chopra has qualified for his maiden World Athletics Championships final owing to a throw of 88.39m. The 24-year-old Indian athlete is one of the favorites to win a medal here at Eugene. The Indian superstar opened Group A's qualification round as he sent his javelin flying for 88.39m which also happens to be his third career-best throw.
The medal round is scheduled to be held on Sunday (07:05 am IST).
Athletes will have to clear 83.50m or 12 best athletes from two qualification round groups will qualify for the final round and will lock horns for the winner's medal. Grenada's defending champion Anderson Peters shares Group B with another Indian athlete Rohit Yadav. Apart from Neeraj Chopra, big bets are already placed on Rohit Yadav whose personal best is 89.94m. Yadav had last competed in the 2017 London World Championships but managed to push the javelin just to 82.26m and he fell short of the automatic qualification mark of 83m.
Plagued by various injuries, Yadav missed the 2019 World Championships in Doha as he was recovering from his elbow surgery.
Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra expects to breach the coveted 90m mark this year but doesn't want to think about "distance" going into the World Athletics Championships, currently underway in Eugene, USA. Chopra had set a new national record of 89.94m, just 6cm shy of the 90m mark, the gold standard in the world of javelin throw, at the prestigious Diamond League in Stockholm last month en route to a silver medal.
