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Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
The athlete returned to action after recovering from an elbow injury and threw 87.86m at the Athletics Central North East meeting in South Africa.
The Olympic cut has been made after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) confirmed with their South African counterparts about the event being recognised as an 'international meet’, IANS reported.
Neeraj qualifies for Tokyo!
— SAIMedia (@Media_SAI) January 29, 2020
In his first competitive event since returning from injury, #TOPSAthlete Javelin thrower @Neeraj_chopra1 threw 87.86m at the ACNW League Meet in South Africa and qualified for #Tokyo2020 after crossing benchmark of 85m. Many congratulations.@afiindia pic.twitter.com/LGeL29PBqs
Neeraj is India's hopeful Olympic medalist. His last major international competition was the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games last August. He had won gold with a national record of 88.06m.
After facing the injury, Neeraj was forced to miss competitive action for the most part of 2019.
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.