Neeraj Chopra clinches Doha Diamond League title; records best throw of 88.67m
Neeraj Chopra made a rousing start to the season with a world leading throw of 88.67m to win the Diamond League meet in Doha on Friday. Though he still fell short of the elusive 90m mark at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium, Chopra will take heart from the victory in a tough field that had world champion Anderson Peters and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic.
Given the way Chopra opened with 88.67m, he would have backed himself to breach the 90m mark. Chopra came after Peters began the contest with a throw of 85.88m and it immediately put the field under pressure.
Chopra's series was 88.67m, 86.04m, 85.47, foul, 84.37m, 86.52m. Valdejch, who has the season's leading throw before Chopra, kept everyone on their toes with throws of 88.63m and 88.47m and finished second. Peters came third with a best throw of 85.88m.
Having opened his season with a victory against a quality field, the 25-year-old Chopra will draw confidence for the major competitions this season -- World Championships (August), Asian Games (September).
Going into the Doha meet, Chopra had exuded confidence in breaching the 90m mark. In three competitions last year, he crossed 89m but had fallen agonisingly falling short each time. When he got his personal best of 89.94m in Stockholm, it looked like a matter of time before he hit the mark.
However, it was his remarkable consistency that separated him from the rest of the field. He went past 88m regularly in five of the six competitions. At the world championships in Eugene he won silver with a similar big throw of 88.13m and he won the Diamond League title for the first time with 88.14m throw. He has opened the season in a similar vein.
On the eve of his season-opening tournament, Chopra wished he would get the 90m mark in Doha and settle the debate once and for all. Peters and Vadlejch had crossed 90m in Doha last year. However, he also mentioned he would be careful to not injure himself. A big learning experience for Chopra was the world championships where he kept pushing himself till the end and strained his groin, which then saw him pull out of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“After that fourth throw at the world championships, I felt a lot of pain, but I couldn't stop myself. Maybe I should've stopped there," he had said. "This year we have a really long season. The focus is to be injury-free and have a healthy season. Bas, injury na aaye,” he added.
The Diamond League too will be a major event for Chopra and considering the importance he gives to the high-profile event, he will be looking to go all out in other Diamond League meets-- Lausanne (June 30), Monaco (July 21), Zurich (August 31) before it winds down to Hayward Field in Eugene for the finale on September 16. Each meet offers a prize money of $10,000 for the winners while the champion gets a prize purse of $30,000.
Before the start of the season, Chopra said he was in better physical shape and frame of mind compared to the beginning of the previous season. “Last year, I got really close (90m)," he said. “I'm not overconfident but when you're feeling good, you can say it. I am feeling good, I've been training well, and I have the belief that it (90m) will happen this time.”
He has been training abroad with an eye on the big season. With coach Klaus Bartonietz and physio Ishaan Marwaha by his side, Chopra has trained at UK’s Loughborough University towards the end of last year and then moved to Potchefstroom, South Africa and Gloria Sports Arena in Antalya, Turkey this year. He worked on endurance and stamina and his throwing strength. All that hard work paid off in Doha.
Tough day for Paul
Triple jumper and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eldhose Paul was also competing in Doha. However, he finished 10th with a jump of 15.84m, far behind personal best of 16.99m. Coming back from a heel injury Paul had three jumps of 15.84m, 13.65m and 14.70m. It was a quality field on display with Olympic and world champion gold medallist Pedro Pichardo winning with a jump of 17.91 while Olympic silver medallist Hugues Fabrice of Burkina Faso won silver (17.81m) and Andy Hernandez Diaz of Cuba got bronze (17.80m).
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