The Chairman of Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) Planning Committee announced that they will stage the javelin throw competition every year on August 7.
Lalit Bhanot also said in a felicitation program organised for Neeraj Chopra by the AFI that the “Athletics Federation of India’s planning committee has decided to further promote javelin throwing and will hold competitions every year throughout the country on August 7 as Neeraj Chopra won the gold in Tokyo on this day.”
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Neeraj just took one throw on a balmy Tokyo night to start India dreaming of an end to the years of pain. In the first attempt, his javelin landed at a distance of 87.03 metres. It was quite enough to give him the lead.
Full of confidence, Chopra sent his second attempt even further to 87.58m and sent 1.35 billion people back home into delirious joy. Before Chopra, India only had one individual Olympic gold medal by Abhinav Bindra in a 10-metre air rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Previously, Chopra went for a win at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold in the year 2018 before an injury to his throwing arm. After this, the Covid-19 pandemic kept him far from javelin throw for nearly two years.
But he managed this time and ironed out chinks in his technique. As a result, he qualified for Tokyo Olympics 2020 with a throw of 87.86m last year and posting a personal best of 88.07 in March this year.
