Haryana

• 29 Aug 2023

World Athletics Championships 2023: Haryana's Neeraj Chopra becomes the 1st Indian World Champion

Why in News?

On August 28, 2023 Neeraj Chopra of Haryana's Panipat district with a best throw of 88.17m became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Senior World Championships in the men's javelin throw event at the World Athletics Championships 2023 held in Budapest, Hungary.

Key Points:

• Notably, Neeraj Chopra was already the first Indian track and field athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympics (Tokyo 2020), Diamond League title (2022) and Junior World Championships (2016).
• Neeraj Chopra, who holds the national record of 89.94m in men's javelin throw, had won a silver medal at the World Championships in Oregon last year. It was India's first silver medal at a global track and field event and the country's second after Anju Bobby George won a bronze in the women's long jump at Paris 2003.
• Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan won the silver with a season's best throw of 87.82m, while Jakub Wadlejch of the Czech Republic won the bronze with a throw of 86.67m.
• The other two Indian athletes also put up impressive performances in the 12-man javelin throw final in Budapest. Kishore Jena finished fifth with a personal best throw of 84.77m, while DP Manu finished sixth with a throw of 84.14m.