TOKYO 2020: India’s Neeraj Chopra qualifies into Tokyo Olympics javelin final

One of India's strongest bets for an Olympic medal, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra started his campaign with some style. The Indian qualified for the final of the men's javelin final with the best throw of 86.65m in the men’s javelin throw qualification in group A. Incidentally, this is the first time an Indian has topped qualification at any athletics event at the Olympics.

Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra kept India's hopes of an elusive Olympic medal from track and field events alive by earning direct qualification into the finals with a stunning throw of 86.65m that put him on the top of the Group A contest, here on Wednesday. Competing in his first Olympics, the 23-year-old Chopra took just a few seconds to make it to the final round to be held on Saturday as he sent the spear well past the qualifying mark of 83.50m in his first attempt.

Chopra's performance on Saturday will go down as one of the best performances by an Indian in the Olympics, as he finished ahead of gold Neeraj Chopra began his season with a new national record of 88.06 meters at the Indian Grand Prix in March and followed it up with another commendable 87.80m throw at the Federation Cup.

He then headed to Europe to prepare for Tokyo 2020. There, Neerja Chopra threw 83.18m at a Lisbon meet for gold, managed another gold-winning effort of 80.96m in Sweden, and threw an 86.79m at the Kuortane Games in Finland for bronze. All three events were held in June.