Tokyo 2020: Neeraj Chopra Creates History; Becomes 2nd Indian to Win an Individual Olympic Gold
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History has been made. Neeraj Chopra has become the first ever Indian to win an Olympic gold in the track and field events at the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Games. Neeraj, with a best throw of 87.58 in the men’s javelin throw final on Saturday to finish at the top and thus became the second ever athlete from his country after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win an individual Olympic gold.It was India’s seventh medal at the Tokyo Olympics that means they have surpassed their previous best tally of six at the 2012 London Games.The 23-year-old Neeraj stormed into the lead with a throw of 87.03 in his first attempt of the final and then improved it to 87.58 in his second. He continued to lead the field throughout the competition that saw Germany’s gold favourite Johannes Vetter crash out after finishing ninth following the first three attempts out of which two were fouls and the one he completed resulted in a throw of 82.52.Neeraj in the third attempt tapered off with a throw of 76.79 and ended up committing fouls in his next two attempts.The silver medal went to JakubVadlejch of Czech Republic (best throw of 86.67m) while his countryman VitezslavVesely took home bronze (best throw of 85.44m).
Mirabai Chanu opened India’s medal account with a historic silver in women’s weightlifting last month. Then PV Sindhu won her second successive Olympic medal - a bronze in women’s singles badminton followed by LovlinaBorgohain adding a third to the country’s tally with a bronze in boxing.India men’s hockey team then defeated Germany to win bronze and Ravi Singh Dahiya then pocketed silver in wrestling. On the final day of India’s event, Bajrang Punia added sixth medal to India’s kitty with a bronze in men’s freestyle 65kg wrestling.
