Neeraj Chopra won the Federation Cup with a best throw of 82.27m on a hot and humid evening at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, as the Olympic champion made a winning return to competition in India.
Right from the off, it was clear that Chopra wouldn't exert himself too much. He made four throws, three of them legal, and all of them hovered between 81m and 82. In the end, his best effort was 21cm better than DP Manu's best 82.06m, which came in the Karnataka man's first attempt itself.
Chopra began with a throw of 82m, 6cm short of Manu's first throw, then didn't register a mark with his second throw, and only managed 81.47m with his third throw. It was his fourth that gave him the win in the competition, and the liberty of not even having to attempt his fifth and sixth throws.
Neeraj was seen having several animated chats with his coach throughout the course of the event. He later explained that due to the weather conditions, he had to exert himself accordingly, and with his schedule up until the Paris Olympics in mind.
Manu was the one for whom this competition held a lot of significance, as he continues to chase the elusive 85.50m mark that would guarantee him qualification for the Paris Olympics. However, once again, he fell short. The bigger concern from an Indian perspective however continues to be Kishore Kumar Jena's form. Having ended 2023 spectacularly at the World Championships and the Asian Games, Jena has not yet crossed 80m in nine attempted throws in competitive action this year. Here, he finished fifth with a best effort 75.49m, well behind the 78.39m mark that Maharashtra's Uttam Patil set to take the bronze medal.
Speaking after his winning effort, Chopra said that this wasn't a night of his best throws, and that he was just happy to be back competing in India again. The Olympic champion returns to action in a couple of weeks time at the Golden Spike event in Ostrava, Czechia.
You can relive all the action, as it happened, on our live blog below.
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