'Pressure of playing in big competitions has helped me,' asserts Neeraj Chopra post winning gold at Asian Games 2023

Kishore Kumar Jena clinched silver and qualified for Paris Olympics.

India’s javelin ace Neeraj Chopra, reigning Olympic and world champion, clinched the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event final at the ongoing Asian Games 2023 on Wednesday in Hangzhou, China. Along with Neeraj, Kishore Kumar Jena another talented Indian javelin thrower, bagged silver in the javelin throw at the continental meet. In the process, the athlete from Odisha breached the Olympic qualification mark.

However the start in the finals wasn't fruitful. It took quite a while to find out exactly how far Neeraj Chopra threw the javelin in his first attempt in the final of the Asian Games 2023. Neeraj’s first throw was not measured due to a technical glitch. After the event, he expressed his grief about this incident.

The world champion iterated, “At the beginning of the event, I was confident that I could throw more than 90m. But, after the first throw, there was an argument with some officials. My first throw was good, but they didn't measure it. But, at last, I'm happy with my throw. Kishore Jena gave me the most joy in today’s final. I felt great when he was leading and making good throws.

"He also qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024. Actually, in today's final, we were pushing each other to showcase our best performance,” he said after winning the gold medal in an interview with Sony Sports Network.

When asked how he felt when Kishore Kumar Jenna was leading, Chopra conceded that tension was there. But, the experience of playing in big competitions helped him to counter the situation."

This season has been going well for the Indian javelin thrower as he stood second in the Diamond League final and clinched the world title, weeks prior to the Diamond League.

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“Neeraj’s first throw was a very good throw. But they weren’t ready to measure it. The same thing also happened with Annu Rani (who won gold for India in the women’s javelin throw event) on Tuesday. It's unclear why such issues persist with Indian athletes, raising suspicions of unfair treatment and disruptions to their performances. Neeraj's first throw was undoubtedly exceptional,” said Anju Bobby George, senior vice president Athletics Federation of India.

Several high profile personalities including Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, congratulated Neeraj Chopra on his title triumph at the Asian Games.

“Second Consecutive Gold in Javelin Throw for @Neeraj_chopra in the Asian Games2023. Congrats to him for this historic feat. This spectacular victory is the result of his dedication and years of training. May he keep scaling new heights of success? All the best to him.” said Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister on his X handle, formerly known as Twitter.