Paris: Defending Olympic champion and World Championships gold medallist Neeraj Chopra registered a huge throw of 89.34 metres in Group B of the men’s javelin throw qualification round at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday and made his way into the finals.
Neeraj threw 89.34m in his first attempt, his best throw this season. The final will be played on Thursday. He successfully breached the qualification mark of 84.00m.
Chopra’s first attempt was his all-time second-best throw at a men’s javelin event, with his top throw coming at Stockholm Diamond League 2022 with a distance of 89.94m. It was also the 26-year-old’s best throw in any qualification round. He won India its sole gold medal in the last Olympics.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem joined the Indian star for the men’s javelin final with his season-best throw of 86.59m.
Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena finished ninth in Group A of the men’s javelin throw qualification round, failing to advance to the medal round.
Kishore’s best attempt of 80.73m could give him only the ninth spot. Only four competitors from Group A advanced to the medal round.
Phogat in semis
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat made it to the semi-finals of the women’s 50kg freestyle category after she secured a win in the quarter-finals over Ukraine’s Oksana Livach on Tuesday.
Phogat defeated Oksana by 7-5 and now is just one more win away from a confirmed medal.
In the last eight round, Vinesh took a lead of 2-0 in the first period. However, Oksana managed to deliver a fight in the second period. But Vinesh, the World Championships medallist held off the challenge from Ukrainian and secured a semi-final berth.
Vinesh’s next opponent will be either Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, a Pan American Games champion, or Gabija Dilyte of Lithuania.
The ace Indian wrestler delivered a brilliant start to her campaign as she defeated the top seed and the Tokyo 2020 champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the women’s 50kg freestyle round of 16 match on Tuesday.
Nisha Dahiya’s campaign met an unfortunate end as she succumbed to North Korea’s Pak Sol Gum in the quarter-finals of the women’s 68kg competition on Monday.
Dahiya faced a 8-10 lost to Sol Gum. At one point, she was leading by 8-2, but she faced an injury and had to take some medical timeouts. Sol Gum took a full advantage of her opponent’s injury and made a comeback which was just good enough to help her win the match.
Men’s table tennis team lose
The Indian men’s table tennis team’s that includes Achanta Sharath Kamal, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar lost to China 3-0 in their round of 16 match on Tuesday.
In the first match of the tie, Desai and Thakkar lost 0-3 (2-11, 3-11, 7-11) against Ma Long and Wang Chuqin.
Sharath Kamal also fumbled his early lead against Paris Olympics 2024 singles gold medallist Fan Zhendong as the Chinese paddler bounced back to secure the second match by 3-1 (9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5).
In the third match of the tie, Manav just could not match Wang Chuqin, who won by 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-9).
