It was just a few days back that the Indian duo of Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena bagged the gold and silver, respectively, at the Asian Games javelin competition. Yet another prize in the event further enhanced India’s reputation for producing world-class throwers, which is not just dependent on Chopra. In fact, stats suggest the India javelin team is the best in the world this year, and by a margin.
As many as six of our throwers have recorded distances of over 80m, which shows the rich legacy of Tokyo gold medalist Chopra. Other than him and Jena, DP Manu, Rohit Yadav, and Shivpal Singh are on the list as well.
This is not even the best part. A couple of videos have gone viral on social media, which show a 14-year-old Rahul throwing the spear to a distance of 59m, and an 18-year-old Shivam Lokhare achieving a distance of 78m. If one were to believe these videos, the Indian dominance in javelin is here to stay for at least a decade.
Meanwhile, at the Asiad, despite issues galore, Chopra secured first place with a massive throw of 88.88m, while Kishore Jena had a best throw of 87.54m. The latter also bettered his PB twice in the competition, to now become one of the better throwers in the world. Interstingly, Chopra went on to bag the gold, after his first throw was not recorded due to a technical issue.
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