Doha Diamond League 2024 - Neeraj Chopra misses 1st spot by mere 2cm; Kishore Jena finishes 9th

What a night it was for Indian javelin throwers at the Doha Diamond League 2024 as superstar Neeraj Chopra made his return to action to reclaim his crown. However, he fell short by a mere 2cm on Friday, May 10, finishing second with a best throw of 86.24m. His compatriot Kishore Jena couldn't make much impact, settling for 9th place with his best throw at 76.31m.

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Anderson Peters of Grenada, the former world champion, and the Olympic and world medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic put Neeraj Chopra's preparations for the impending Paris Olympics 2024 to the test. Jakub Vadlejch won the league with a throw of 88.38m while Anderson Peters could only manage an 86.62m throw in his last attempt to finish third.

Neeraj Chopra's performance:

He commenced the night with a no mark but quickly rebounded with an 84.93m heave on his second attempt. He then surpassed this with an 86.24m attempt on his third throw. With his fourth attempt, he again touched the 86m mark, throwing 86.18m. 

His fifth attempt measured 82.28m and with one throw remaining and hoping for some magic, he came agonizingly close, falling just two centimetres short of Vadlejch’s winning throw.

The Doha Diamond League marks Neeraj's first event of the 2024 season. In a few months, he'll aim to defend his Olympic title at Paris 2024. Additionally, Neeraj has his sights on surpassing the 90m mark in his throws.

"People have been asking me this question (about crossing the 90m mark) since 2018 when I threw 88.06m at the Asian Games," Neeraj had said at the pre-event press conference on Thursday.

"A lot of things happened after that, my elbow injury, the surgery and now I have been stuck between 88m and 90m. I really want to break the barrier this year. Even last year, I had said that Doha is famous for 90m. But, we were not lucky due to too much headwind. Maybe tomorrow we'll have a good day. Obviously, it is the Olympics year and India is a big country and everyone expects gold always. My focus is to just stay healthy and concentrate on my technique. And yes, if I stay healthy everything will be good".

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