Neeraj Chopra yet again shattered the national record with a throw of 88.06 meters to be crowned the Asian champion in his maiden appearance. He is the second Indian javelin throw athlete to win a medal after Gurtej Singh’s bronze in 1982 New Delhi Asian Games.
The army man was right on the money from the first throw of 83.46m to go on the gold medal position. Liu Qizhen of China was the first competitor to attempt the throw and he was second best to Chopra with the best throw of 82.22m. Neeraj further went on to consolidate his position with a national record breaking throw of 88.06m beating his previous best of 87.43 which he had come up with in Doha during the first leg of the Diamond League series in May.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem won the bronze with a 80.75 effort.
Twitter went berserk with India’s flag bearer delivering the best and winning gold for India. Here are some reactions
Neeraj Chopra:
World Junior Championships: Gold
South Asian Games: Gold
Asian Championships: Gold
Commonwealth Games: Gold
Sotteville Athletics Meet: Gold
And now
Asian Games, breaking his own national recrod, Gold.
He is just 20. WOW.#AsianGames2018 #AsianGames #NeerajChopra pic.twitter.com/JJKJzzDjgw— Ameya Tilak (@ameyatilak) August 27, 2018
Congratulations to the Javelin thrower #NeerajChopra for winning a Gold at the #AsianGames2018 and in process creating a national record, 8th Gold for Indiaa!!! ????? pic.twitter.com/YZzPDAqHyp
— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) August 27, 2018
Golden boy gets a GOLD #NeerajChopra congratulations @Neeraj_chopra1 India and Indians are so proud of you.#AsianGames2018 pic.twitter.com/cutOjHvwAl
— Gita S. Kapoor (@GitaSKapoor) August 27, 2018
What a delight to watch you throw #Javelin and clinch a gold for India ???
Heartiest congratulations @Neeraj_chopra1 ! You nailed it! #AsianGames2018 #Athletics #RecordBreaking #NeerajChopra pic.twitter.com/rhxk3tl7zJ— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) August 27, 2018
All put your hands together for #NeerajChopra. Another gold.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) August 27, 2018
Congratulations #NeerajChopra on the throw that won the Gold Medal ?!! #AsianGames2018 @asiangames2018 #IndiaAtAsianGames pic.twitter.com/LVRXuNpjVI
— Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) August 27, 2018
#NeerajChopra won the gold medal at Asian games and he is just 20. ??? Damn! So am I ?? Congratulations to him and to India ??????
— Raina ji ki Ladki? (@sneha_raina98) August 27, 2018
The competition was good, I had trained well and was focused on getting a gold medal for the country. I dedicate my medal to #AtalBihariVajpayee ji who was a great man: #NeerajChopra #AsianGames2018@News18India @awasthis @Vimalwa @arunjuyal @SumitSun14 @anupamshri
— Parul Sabherwal (@parulsabherwal) August 27, 2018