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Chopra, however, took the lead in the fourth round with an effort of 82.27m and failed to land the last two throws (fifth and sixth) as he led after DP Manu, who settled for silver, has completed his last throw of the round. Chopra represented Haryana. Manu of Karnataka came second with an effort of 82.06m, while Uttam Balasaheb Patil of Maharashtra finished third with 78.39m. Local man and Asian Games silver medalist Kishore Jena finished fifth with a disappointing time of 75.49m. Jena had qualified for the Paris Olympics by throwing 87.54m for the silver medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China last year.
Meanwhile, SS Sneha of Karnataka became the fastest woman in the competition, winning the gold medal in the 100m race with a time of 11.63 seconds. Tamil Nadu’s Giridhrani Ravi (11.67) and Odisha’s Srabani Nanda (11.76) finished second and third, respectively. Gurindervir Singh of Punjab won the gold medal in 100m with a time of 10.35 seconds. Odisha’s Animesh Kujur, who won gold in 200m on Tuesday, finished second in 10.50 while another athlete from Punjab, Harjit Singh, finished third in 10.56.
Besides the men’s javelin throw, the men’s triple jump was the other event in which almost all of the country’s top athletes competed, but the competition never reached great heights. National record holder Praveen Chitravel of Tamil Nadu won gold with a sub-par jump of 16.79m, while reigning Commonwealth Games champion Eldhose Paul of Kerala finished second with an effort of 16.59 m. Chopra last competed in a national tournament at the same event in March 2021, when he won a gold medal with a throw of 87.80m. Since then, Chopra has won a historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, become Diamond League champion in 2022, world champion in 2023 and defended gold at the Asian Games in China.
He has also won three individual rounds of the Diamond League and won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships. He has, however, yet to break the 90 meter mark. His personal best and national record is 89.94 m.
His participation transformed the tournament into a high-level national competition and this greatly boosted the morale of all the athletes present at the Kalinga Stadium, with few of them posing for a photo with him after his event. Chopra, whose best throw is 89.94m, which is the national record for men’s javelin in India, was seen chatting with his coach after his fourth attempt, which was the best in the competition that day . The champion athlete, who hopes to defend his Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games, returned to India from Doha where he began his season with a second place in the Diamond League with an impressive final throw of 88.36 mr.
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