Olympic-bound Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra wins event at Karlstad Grand Prix with throw of 80.96m

Olympic-bound star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra produced a below-par effort of 80.96m but still won his event in the Karlstad Grand Prix in Sweden on Tuesday. Chopra began with a throw of 79.07m before hurling the iron spear to 80.96m. His next three attempts were fouls before coming up with a final throw of 77.48m in a mediocre field. On 10 June, he had come up with a best effort of 83.18m to win an event in Lisbon, Portugal in his first international competition after more than a year. Chopra’s next stop is at Kuortane Games on 26 June in Finland, where he is expected to face season-leader and 2017 world champion Johannes Vetter (SB: 96.29m). The 23-year-old Indian had qualified for Tokyo Olympics in January, 2020 in South Africa. The reigning Asian and Commonwealth Games champion holds the national record of 88.07m.