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Reigning Olympic champion and India’s Golden Boy Neeraj Chopra clinched the gold medal at the Federation Cup 2024 in Bhubaneswar. Chopra produced a decent effort of 82.27 m in his first Indian event since becoming the champion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The last time Chopra competed in India was at the same tournament in March 2021, where he secured the yellow metal with an 87.80m.
Apart from Chopra, the tournament saw Asian Athletics Championships silver medallist DP Manu winning the silver medal with a throw of 82.06m. The bronze medal was won by Uttam Balasaheb Patil with his throw of 78.39m. Kishore Jena, the Asian Games silver medallist, had a disappointing outing at the Kalinga Stadium and ended his campaign in fifth position with a 75.49m throw. Jena has secured a Paris Olympics 2024 berth and is all set to represent India at the global marquee tournament.
Chopra skipped two of his last attempts and while speaking about it, the 26-year-old said, “I competed at Doha a few days back and haven’t recovered properly yet. So, I decided to skip the last two throws. I will be competing again in Czechia in another 10-12 days so I took it easy. It was nice to compete in India after so long. Thanks to all the fans who came out to support us today.”
It is to be noted that a special exemption was given to Chopra as the Athletics Federation of India made the Inter-State meet mandatory for Paris Olympic qualifying athletes. AFI President Adille Sumariwalla said, “We have made it very clear that every athlete will compete in India at the Inter-State Championships. But Paris Diamond League is clashing with the Inter-State Championships and we feel that Paris Diamond League will be very important for him (Neeraj) before the Olympic Games therefore he is the only guy who has been given special permission to participate in the Federation Cup.”
