‘One of Our Most Distinguished Athletes’- PM Modi lauds Neeraj Chopra after historic Silver at the World Athletic Championship

India’s Olympic Gold winner Neeraj Chopra has done it again, having won silver in the World Athletics Championship. In the final, the Indian javelin star came up with a throw of 88.13m to come second and bag Silver for the country.

Chopra’s medal has not only satisfied the Olympic star but a whole country who was looking with hopeful eyes. Despite being a Sunday, countrymen woke up early to watch Chopra perform well on the world stage. PM Modi was among the first to congratulate the Indian Javeline star on Twitter.

Taking to Twitter the Indian Prime Minister wrote, “A great accomplishment by one of the most distinguished athletes! Congratulations to Neeraj Chopra on winning a historic Silver medal at the World Championship. This is a special moment for Indian sports. Best wishes to Neeraj for his upcoming endeavours.”

Talking of his throw, Chopra’s start was sluggish as his first attempt was a foul throw. The Tokyo star got back to his best in his fourth attempt and threw the second furthest javelin of the competition. His fifth and sixth throws were fouls resulting in an Anderson Peters win. The Grenada thrower came up with a tournament-winning 90.54m to win Gold.

Neeraj Chopra’s Silver is only the second Indian medal at World Athletics Championship after Anju Bobby George won a Bronze in the 2003 World Athletics Championship.

An ecstatic Chopra was seen waving the Indian flag at the Oregon World Championship and talking to the media. “It was important for me to finish on the podium. It had been quite a few years since we last won a medal at World Athletics Championships, it was Anju Bobby George who won a medal last. I feel happy that I won, it was important to win this year and will try to do better at the World Championships next year,” said Neeraj said in an exclusive interaction with WION.

“You should remain focused on the competition till the very end. In athletics, you get six chances and you never know when you can come up with your best throw so you should keep going. I always had the belief that one of my six throws will definitely come out good,” said the 24-year-old Olympic champion.