Commonwealth Games gold medallist Neeraj Chopra couldn’t conjure up the magic that saw him broke the National Record in Doha earlier this month and finished sixth in the IAAF Diamond League in Eugene, USA.
The 20-year-old, who had hurled the javelin to 87.43m in Doha, could only manage a best throw of 80.81m in his second attempt in Eugene and fouled his last three attempts to bring his campaign to an disappointing end.
Germany’s Thomas Rohler won the gold medal with a Meet Record throw of 89.88m in his fourth attempt while compatriots Johannes Vetter (89.34m) and Andreas Hofmann (86.45m) took the silver and bronze respectively.
A lot was expected from Chopra after he had made the German trio hard in Doha but he started with a lowly 76.95 in his first attempt. However, his second attempt crossed the 80m mark, raising hopes of the Indian going for the big throws after the first three rounds.
That was not to be. Chopra fouled all his three attempts after the first round of elimination.
