Neeraj Chopra Narrowly Misses Diamond League Title by 1cm

Paris Olympics silver medallist, Neeraj Chopra, fell short by just 1 cm at the Diamond League final in Brussels, throwing 87.86 meters. Grenada's Anderson Peters clinched the title with 87.87 meters.

Paris Olympics silver medallist Neeraj Chopra narrowly missed out on another title, finishing second in the Diamond League final with a best throw of 87.86 meters at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Chopra had made history in 2022 as the first Indian to win a Diamond League Trophy.

Grenada's Anderson Peters, a bronze medallist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, captured his first Diamond League title with a throw of 87.87 meters. The 2023 European Games champion, Julian Weber from Germany, secured third place with a throw of 85.97 meters. Czechia's Jakub Vadlejch was replaced by Belgium's Timothy Herman, who finished last with a 76.46-meter effort.

Neeraj Chopra began strongly, with an 86.82-meter throw that placed him second behind Peters. Despite attempting to surpass Peters, Chopra fell just short by 1 cm on his third attempt. Chopra managed throws of 83.49 meters, 82.04 meters, 83.30 meters, and 86.46 meters in subsequent rounds.

This was Chopra's fifth appearance in the Diamond League final, having finished seventh in 2017, fourth in 2018, and winning the title in 2022 with an 88.44-meter throw. Chopra secured his spot in the final by accumulating 14 points across two Diamond League meets this season.

Chopra, 26, set a national record of 89.94 meters in the 2022 Stockholm leg of the Diamond League and threw his second-best career distance of 89.49 meters at the Lausanne meet last month. His silver-winning distance in Paris stood at 89.45 meters. (ANI)

(With inputs from agencies.)