Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra harvested another record-smashing gold as India’s track-and-field athletes delivered a bevy of medals at Jakarta on Monday.
Neeraj’s gold and three other athletics silver medals, along with Saina Nehwal’s badminton singles bronze, propelled India’s overall medal count to 41 (8 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze).
Considered the biggest star in Indian athletics at the moment, junior world champion Neeraj lived up to the expectations surrounding him in style, throwing the spear to a new personal best of 88.06m and leaving the field behind by quite a distance.
There were plenty of silver medals to celebrate as well, all of it coming from the athletics arena. Sudha Singh (women’s 300m steeplechase), Neena Varakil (women’s long jump) and Dharun Ayyasamy (men’s 400m hurdles) came second in their respective events.
Ayyasamy clocked 48.96 seconds to shatter his own national record and finish behind Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba who won the gold with a Games record time of 47.66. “My father passed away when I was eight years old. My mother has made a lot of sacrifices for me. I owe her this. She is still earning just Rs 14,000 per month as a teacher,” said the 21-year-old from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, who is hoping to get a job now.
Varakil’s best jump of 6.51m came in the fourth attempt, which was enough to fetch her the silver. Veteran Sudha clocked 9:40.03 seconds to win her second Asian Games medal following the gold she won in the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
However, it was Neeraj who stole the show with his jaw-dropping exploits. The 20-year-old, who claimed a gold at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, had managed a gold medal throw from his very first attempt today – an effort of 83.46m effort. Towards the final rounds, the Panipat-based athlete was left competing against himself, but continued to push the bar with his throws.