Chopra misses Bronze in Diamond League

Newly-crowned Asian Games champion Neeraj Chopra produced yet another impressive performance but missed the Bronze medal by a whisker, finishing fourth in the prestigious Diamond League Final here on Friday.

The 20-year-old Indian, who was competing in the season's Diamond League Series Finale just three days after winning Asian Games Gold in Jakarta, sent the spear to a best distance of 85.73m to end at fourth position in the eight-man event here on Thursday night.

Chopra, a Commonwealth Games Gold medallist, was at the third position till the fifth and penultimate round but the reigning Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany came up with a 85.76m effort in his last attempt to pip the Indian by a mere 0.03 meter.

The star Indian could not repeat his national record shattering throw of 88.06m in Jakarta but his effort here earned him $ 6000 besides the enormous amount of experience he got by rubbing shoulders with the best in the business.

Chopra had qualified for the Final as sixth best in terms of points. He took part in three Diamond League Series legs. He finished fourth in Doha, sixth in Eugene and fifth in Rabat. He missed the Birmingham leg on August 18 due to the Asian Games.

Chopra will compete in the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava, Czech Republic from September 8 to 9 as a member of the Asia Pacific team and he will pair with Taipei's Cheng Chao-Tsun.

Mohammed Anas (men's 400m), Jinson Johnson (men's 8800m), Arpinder Singh (men's triple jump), Hima Das (women's 400m), P U Chitra (women's 1500m) and Sudha Singh (women's 3000m steeplechase) are the other Indian taking part in the Continental Cup.