Tokyo Olympics: Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in men's javelin throw with a best attempt of 87.58.
Neeraj Chopra put in a stunning performance to win India's first Olympic gold medal in athletics. The 23-year-old registered a best attempt of 87.58 to finish ahead of Czech Republic duo of Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely to clinch the gold medal. It was India's first gold medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics and also the country's second individual gold medal in Olympic history after Abhinav Bindra's heroics in Beijing 2008. With his historic effort, he also took India's medal haul to seven in the ongoing Games - the country's highest ever, beating the tally of six medals won at the London Games in 2012.
Chopra started off with a throw of 87.03, taking the lead after the first round of throws itself. If that was a good start, he went even better with his second throw of 87.58.
In a major upset, Germany's Johannes Vetter - who was favourite to win gold - was knocked out of contention after he failed to be in the top 8 after three throws.
Chopra's fourth and fifth attempts were foul throws, but he continued to top the leaderboard.
