Olympic-bound star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra smashed his own national record with a throw of 88.07m, which is also the best of the year so far (if ratified by World Athletics), as he returned to action in style during the third Indian Grand Prix meet in Patiala on Friday.
Competing for the first time in more than a year after the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out the whole of 2020 calendar, Chopra hurled the spear to a distance of 88.07m in his fifth attempt to go past his earlier national record of 88.06m, sealed during the gold-winning effort at the 2018 Asian Games.
The 24-year-old Chopra opened the competition with an effort of 83.03m before having two foul throws. After a fourth throw of 83.36m, Chopra sent the javelin to the record mark which was manually verified and confirmed by the organisers amid loud cheers from a sizeable audience at the NIS Patiala. His final throw was 82.24m.
“I was prepared and today it was windy. I used my favourite javelin but it was…