Neeraj Chopra wins India's first-ever gold at World Athletics Championships, edges out Pakistan's Nadeem

Budapest [Hungary] : Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra made India proud by winning the country's first-ever gold medal at the World Athletics Championships, Budapest, with a big throw of 88.17m in the men's javelin final. He edged out Pakistan's Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem who took the silver with his season's best throw of 87.82m and the bronze went to Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch (86.67 m).

The 25-year-old Neeraj Chopra won over Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem by less than a meter. Two other Indians finished in top eight - Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14m), who took the fifth and sixth spots respectively. It is another first for India in any event in the World Championships. Neeraj achieved his best throw of the day in his second attempt after beginning with a foul.

Neeraj recorded 88.17m in his second attempt, followed by 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m. He maintained the lead till the final result. In the first round of javelin final's attempts, Neeraj made foul as Oliver Helander of Finland took the lead with a throw of 83.38 m.

In the second round, Neeraj Chopra overcame his initial foul and took the lead by recording the huge 88.17 m throw that brought India its first-ever gold at the World Athletics Championships. In the third round, Neeraj recorded 86.32 m, the second-best in the competition. With a throw of 87.82 m, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem jumped to the number two spot.

Neeraj Chopra recorded his fourth throw of 84.64 m while Nadeem was running close to him with 87.15 m in the fourth attempt. After the end of the fourth round, the lead of Neeraj continued unchallenged. With the latest win, Neeraj Chopra became the second-ever Indian after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra to hold the Olympics and World Championships titles simultaneously. Chopra had in the past won a silver medal in the 2022 edition of World Championships. In 2003, long jumper Anju Bobby George won a bronze in World Championships.

At the international level, Neeraj Chopra became the third-ever javelin thrower in history after Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships titles. Successive medals won by Chopra in his career are gold in 2018 Asian Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games, four individual Diamond League Meeting titles, 2022 Diamond League champion's trophy, 2016 junior world champion and 2017 Asian Championships title.