It was on 27mst, at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar, as the Olympic champion came back home for a winning return in the Olympics, too.
From the get-go, it was evident that Chopra wouldn’t give all-out efforts. He made four throws, three of them correct, and all of them flew somewhere between 81 m and 82 m. Then, the final result was 21 centimeters higher than DP Manu’s best 82. The actor had also taken up 06m, in Karnataka’s man’s first try itself.
Shilpa started with a throw of 82m, just under Manu’s first throw, then didn’t register a mark with his second throw, and only reached 81m with his next attempt. 47m on his third attempt. It was his fourth throw that made him the winner of the tournament, and he was free to do only the fifth and the sixth throws.
Neeraj had come across several lively conversations with his coach while campaigning for the goal. By his account, because of the weather conditions he had to be just as active as his schedule up until the 1924 Paris Olympics allowed him to be.
It so happened that Manu had a lot at stake in this make-or-break bid on his way to the magical figure of 85. The 50m sprint implies a guaranteed qualification for the Paris Olympics. Nevertheless, he was unable to overcome this obstacle again. The bigger worry is possibly Jena’s performance but no longer from an Indian perspective, however. Closing the 2023 season with the Worlds and Asian Games, Jena did not even clear 80m in nine competing trial throws. Here, he ended fifth reaching to the best 75. 49m, almost 18 short of 78. 39sec mark Uttam Patil, a Maharashtrian took the bronze medal.
Chopra spoke after his winning throw and admitted that he hadn’t performed at his best that night and that he was just happy to be back competing in India. The Olympic champion continues her season at the Golden Spike competition in a few weeks time, in Ostrava, Czechia.