"This spectacular victory is the result of his dedication" - Reactions pour in to Neeraj Chopra's gold-winning performance at Asian Games 2023

Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra successfully defended his Asian Games gold on Wednesday with an exceptional season's best throw of 88.88m. This remarkable achievement added yet another illustrious medal to his already extensive list of honors.

Interestingly, his primary competitor turned out to be his compatriot, Kishore Jena, who secured the silver medal with a throw of 87.54m. With these outstanding performances, India clinched gold medals in both the men's and women's javelin events, as Annu Rani had earlier emerged victorious in the women's competition as well.

It started off a little shakily for Neeraj Chopra with no fault of his own. Neeraj landed his first throw which seemed to be comfortably above the 85m mark but he had to retake his throw. This was because of a mistake when the next thrower from Kuwait followed through with his throw.

It turned out that the officials hadn't finished measuring Neeraj's throw. This eventually forced the World Champion to retake his first attempt. The Asian Games defending champion promptly retook his throw and landed a sublime 82.38m.

Neeraj Chopra bettered his score in the second attempt landing an 84.49m throw and took a comfortable lead. Kishore Jena, India's second thrower taking part in the finals, surprised everyone when he landed his personal best throw of 86.77m in the third attempt.

With two throws each left and none of the other challengers coming close, it was a straight contest between the two Indians. Both Neeraj and Kishore’s final two throws were far from their best, and they ended up winning gold and silver courtesy their previous attempt.

Congratulating Neeraj on his achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said,

"Second consecutive gold in javelin throw for Neeraj Chopra in the Asian Games. Congrats to him for this historic feat. This spectacular victory is the result of his dedication and years of training. May he keep scaling new heights of success. All the best to him."

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