Neeraj Chopra wins Grand Prix athletics gold with modest show

CHENNAI: Conditions were not ideal in Karlstad (Sweden) during the Grand Prix athletics on Tuesday. It was gloomy and rainy. Neeraj Chopra, keen to get come competitions before the Olympics, had a modest outing in his first major competition since March this year. 

By the time Neeraj started his throws, there was rain and it intensified as the evening settled in with temperature being around 12 degrees. The first throw was a warm-up. Not taking too much risk on a wet track, he tried to keep it simple.

The spear pierced the ground 79.07m away from his throwing line on his first attempt. In his next attempt, he cleared 80m mark with a throw of 80.96m. Those were the two legitimate throws before his last attempt of 77.48m. This is off from his national record of 88.07m.