Hyderabad: India's medal hopeful in the 2020 Tokyo Games, Neeraj Chopra, on Tuesday qualified for the Olympics with a throw of 87.86m at Athletics Central North East meeting at Kenneth McArthur Stadium in South Africa.
Neeraj Chopra's achievements This was Neeraj's first competitive event after recovering from an elbow injury.
The Athletics Federation of India said that they’ve confirmed with the South Africa federation that it is a ‘recognised international meet’ so the Olympic cut has been made.
"Neeraj Chopra qualified for #tokyo2020 @Neeraj_chopra1 qualified for Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a throw of 87.86m in SouthAfrica🇿🇦 today. Congratulations @Neeraj_chopra1 #ProudMoment #javelinthrow," Indian athletes tweeted.
"Neeraj Chopra is back with a bang. He throws 87.86 at an event in Potchefstroom. Thanks to @afiindia for this detailed result pic. #IndianAthletics," Indian journalist Rahul Bhutani tweeted.
Neeraj Chopra (File Image)
Apart from Neeraj, there were four more participants in the event, which included India's Rohit Yadav who aimed the second spot with a best throw of 77.61m. While the other three participants were all from France and could not even breach the 70m mark in the event at the Kenneth McArthur Stadium in South Africa.
Neeraj was earlier out of action after suddering elbow injury
Neeraj's last major international competition was the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games last August where he won gold with a national record of 88.06m.
The elbow injury had forced Neeraj to miss competitive action for the most part of 2019.
Neeraj Chopra (File Image)
He was expected to participate in the National Open Athletics Championship late last year, but the AFI decided to allow Neeraj more time to get competition ready.
