Neeraj Chopra Misses Javelin Top Spot By 2 Cms At Doha Diamond League; Kishore Jena 9th

Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic finished on the top with his third throw being the best in the field at 88.38m. Chopra reserved his best for the last but it fell short by just two centimeters as the reigning Olympic champion failed to defend his title that he had won last year.

The two-time World Champion from Grenada Anderson Peters finished third with a best throw of 86.62m. His best also came in his final attempt.

Another Indian in the fray, the Asian Games silver medalist Kishore Jena finished ninth with the best of 76.31m.

It was Jena's debut at the prestigious event but he failed to replicate his Asian Games form and was eliminated after three rounds of throws.

He began with a 75.72m throw but his second one was a foul. Jena then finished with 76.31m to end up at the ninth spot.

Vadlejch who was the runner-up at the Tokyo Olympics behind Chopra, turned the table this time around and maintained the lead right from the beginning.

Vadlejch had won a silver in the Tokyo Olympics and a bronze in the 2023 World Championships, the two events in which Chopra had won gold.

Chopra had won the 2023 Doha Diamond League with a throw of 88.67m, ahead of Vadlejch (88.63) and Peters (85.88m).

The next Diamond League meeting which has men's javelin as a discipline will be in Paris on July 7.

At each DL meeting, athletes are awarded 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 points for ranking first to to eighth respectively. The top six javelin throwers will compete in the Diamond League Finals in Brussels on September 13-14 and the winner will lift the DL champion's trophy.

With PTI Inputs