Defending Commonwealth Games champion, Neeraj Chopra clinched the gold medal at the Savo Games in Finland on Sunday, to sum up a wonderful preparation for the 18th Asian Games slated to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The star Javelin thrower defeated his Asian rival Chao-Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei, with a gigantic throw of 85.69m at the event held at Lapinlahti, where he is currently undergoing his preparations for the Asian Games. Cheng came second after covering a distance of 82.52m.
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Despite the defeat, Chang still remains the only Asian player to have thrown a Javelin beyond the distance of 90m. The 23-year-old achieved the feat last year, when he threw 91.36m at the World University Games in Taipei, to break a three-year-old Asian record of 89.15m set by Zhao Qinggang of China at the 2014 Asian Games.
Meanwhile, Neeraj who is the Asian seasonal leader has a personal best score of 87.43m, which he achieved during the first leg of the Diamond League Meeting in Doha three months ago.
He is ahead of both Cheng and Ahmed Bader Magour of Qatar (season-best 83.71m) and winning the gold at the Savo Games will surely boost his confidence before the Asian Games.
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The 20-year-old on Friday lost his former coach Gary Calvert, who died of a heart attack in a hospital in China. The Australian was Neeraj’s coach when he won the historic gold medal in the Junior World Championships in 2016. At the time of death, the 65-year-old Calvert was serving as the national Javelin coach of China.