Chopra's spear finally breaches 90m barrier, silences doubters

 

NEW DELHI: At long last. On a warm Friday evening in Doha, his long locks held back by the trade-mark headband, world champion Neeraj Chopra broke the barrier that had been weighing him down for a long time, logging a memora-ble 90.23m throw to break his own national record and enter an elite club of spearmen.

It didn't matter that German Julian Weber stole the top prize with his last throw (91.06m), for the night was truly about an exceptional athlete silencing lin-gering demons in his head. Gre-nada's Anderson Peters was third with a throw of 85.64m.

Having flirted with the elusive distance on a bunch of occasions, the two-time Olympic medallist threw the monkey off his back on his third attempt. As the spear tore through the Doha night sky, Chopra raised his arms in delight - his customary celebration indi-cating he has unlocked a big throw.

Not for the first time in his sto-ried career, the Tokyo gold medal-list showed that he can more than hold his own in a stacked field -five of the top seven finishers at Paris Olympics were among the Il men in action. Chopra's reaction after his distance was confirmed showed that the emotion he felt most was relief. A gentle shake of the head before shaking hands with other athletes. They all knew what this meant him. They all knew it had been a long wait.

With temperatures hovering in the mid-30s and a helpful tailwind to boot, the Indian began the meet with a world-leading throw of 88.44m to give indication of what was to follow. His next effort was a foul but he came back strong, hit ting the mark he has long chased. His next throw was 80.56m which was followed by another foul