Federation Cup 2024 athletics: Neeraj Chopra marks homecoming with javelin throw gold medal

Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra clinched the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event with a modest 82.27m effort at the Federation Cup 2024 athletics meet in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Neeraj was participating in an event in India for the first time since becoming the Olympic champion three years ago. The last time Neeraj competed in India was at the Federation Cup in March 2021, where he won the gold medal with a throw of 87.80m.

Neeraj Chopra was also competing in his second competitive outing of the 2024 outdoor athletics season, having finished second at the Doha Diamond League last week with a throw of 88.36m.

Asian Athletics Championships silver medallist DP Manu clinched the silver medal at the Kalinga Stadium on Wednesday with a 82.06m while Uttam Balasaheb Patil bagged the bronze with a 78.39m effort.

Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena, who has secured a Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India in men’s javelin throw alongside Chopra, endured a disappointing outing at his home venue, finishing fifth with a 75.49m throw.

Bibin Antony took the fourth position with a personal best effort of 77.37m.

Manu DP led the 12-man field in the men’s javelin throw final with the 82.06m clearance for the first three rounds but Neeraj took the pole position with his fourth effort. He didn’t take the last two attempts.

“I competed at Doha a few days back and haven’t recovered properly yet. So, I decided to skip the last two throws. I will be competing again in Czechia in another 10-12 days so I took it easy,” Neeraj Chopra said.

“It was nice to compete in India after so long. Thanks to all the fans who came out to support us today,” the reigning world champion added.

Federation Cup 2024 men’s javelin throw final result

1. Neeraj Chopra - 82.27m
2. Manu DP - 82.06m
3. Uttam Balasaheb Patil - 78.39m
4. Bibin Antony - 77.37m
5. Kishore Jena - 75.49m
6. Pramod - 74.56m
7. Manjinder Singh - 72.58m
8. Vikas Yadav - 71.66m
9. Kunwer Singh Rana - 71.12m
10. Shivpal Singh - 71.01m
11. Vivek Kumar - 71.00m
12. Rohit Kumar - 66.16m

Federation Cup 2024 athletics: Day 4 medal winners

• Women’s 10000m: 1. Soniya; 2. Pooja Yadav; 3. Prajakta Godbole
• Women’s hammer throw: 1. Harshita Sehrawat; 2. Tanya Chaudhary; 3. Manpreet Kaur
• Men’s triple jump: 1. Praveen Chithravel; 2. Eldhose Paul; 3. Mohammed Salahuddin
• Women’s high jump: 1. Abhinaya S Shetty; 2. Angel P Devasia; 3. Ritu Akhtar
• Men’s 100m: 1. Gurinder Vir Singh; 2. Animesh Kujur; 3. Harjit Singh
• Women’s 100m: 1. Sneha SS; 2. Giridharani Ravikumar; 3. Srabani Nanda
• Men’s javelin throw: 1. Neeraj Chopra; 2. DP Manu; 3. Uttam Balasaheb Patil
• Women’s 1500m: 1. Akshana; 2. Nikita Sharma; 3. Amandeep Kaur
• Men’s 1500m: 1. Mehedi Hassan; 2. Abhishek Singh Thakur; 3. Yoonus Shah
• Women’s 400m: 1. Poovamma Raju; 2. Summy; 3. Vithya Ramraj
• Men’s 400m: 1. Muhammed Ajmal V; 2. Santhosh Kumar T; 3. Vikrant Panchal
• Men’s 10000m: 1. Mohan Saini; 2. Puneet Yadav; 3. Ankit Deshwal
• Women’s heptathlon: 1. Agasara Nandini; 2. Anamika K A; 3. Deepika S