GOLDEN SILVER

Neeraj Digs Deep For Second Place As Dominant Peters Retains Javelin Gold

- Sabi Hussain

Sometimes, pressure gets the best out of some individuals. You can count Neeraj Chopra among that handful.

The boy with the golden arm felt lost in a windy afternoon at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, losing his grip over the title he yearned the most since his Tokyo Olympics exploits. First, a foul when he stepped over the scratch line, followed by efforts of 82.39m and 86.37m.

And then he dug deep. A glance at his biomechanics coach, Dr Klaus Bartonietz, in the stands who gestured him to stay calm and signalled Neeraj to throw his javelin parallel to the ground without much elevation. The spear flew to a distance of 88.13m.

It was beyond the 87.58m he produced in Tokyo for the Olympics gold. But sometimes, your best is not good enough. On the day, defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada breached the 90m thrice and he seemed to be in a world of his own.

So, our boy Neeraj had to settle for a silver finish at the World Championships. Bittersweet, but acceptable. “I will take it, for sure,” he said later.