Neeraj Chopra finishes third in Kurotane Games, Vetter of Germany finishes first

India's star javelin athlete Neeraj Chopra finished third in the Kuortane Games in Finland on Saturday with a throw of 86.79m.

Chopra first threw the iron spear 83.21m long before registering a throw of 86.79m on his second attempt. The other four throws were deemed as fouls.

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Germany's Johannes Vetter (SB: 96.29m), season-leader and 2017 world champion, won the event with a best throw of 93.59m. The German is the gold medal favourite in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who won a gold in 2012 London Olympics and a bronze in 2016 Rio Games, finished second with a best throw of 89.12m.

Anderson Peters of Grenada, the reigning world champion, was fourth with a best throw of 83.46m.

Ever since Chopra set a national record in March during the Indian Grand Prix 3 with a throw of 88.07m, he has only thrown the iron spear further than 86.79m twice. A few days later after IGP, he threw 87.80m at the Federation Cup on the same turf.

In his previous two competitions in Europe, Chopra had come up with a best effort of 83.18m to win an event in Lisbon, Portugal on June 10 before having a below-par performance of 80.96m at the Karlstad Grand Prix in Sweden on June 22.

The 23-year-old reigning Asian and Commonwealth Games champion had qualified for Tokyo Olympics in January last year in South Africa.

(With inputs from PTI)

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