Going for gold tonight!

His stunning monster throw of 8934m in the qualification round made quite a statement but a tough challenge awaits defending champion Neeraj Chopra as he seeks another piece of history in the Paris Olympics menrsquos javelin throw final round here on Thursday Just like he did at the same stage in the Tokyo Olympics three years back Chopra needed just a few seconds to top the qualification round with his opening throw but the similarity ends thereBetter quality of fieldThis time the quality of the field is better than Tokyo with nine throwers crossing the automatic final round qualification mark of 84m in Paris as against six in Tokyo Out of the nine five made it to the final round with their first throws and thus will have a lot in their tanks for the medal round The 26yearold Chopra knows it too well having been in the global circuit for more than eight years ldquoIn the final everyone has a different mindset and different situation It will be a good competition Whoever qualifies automatically is the best in preparationrdquo Neeraj told journalists after his lsquolighteningrsquo appearance on the fieldAlso ReadlsquoItrsquos a collective failurersquo Wrestling coach Jagmal on Vineshs disqualificationA lot at stakeHe was in a hurry to go back to the Games Village and take rest to prepare for his best for the final round as a lot is at stake on Thursday Chopra will have a chance to become only the fifth man in Olympic javelin throw history to defend the title Eric Lemming Sweden 1908 and 1912 Jonni Myyra Finland 1920 and 1924 Jan Zelezny Czech Republic 1992 1996 and 2000 and Andreas Thorkildsen Norway 2004 and 2008 are the only ones to have defended the menrsquos javelin gold medals in the OlympicsIf he wins gold and for that matter a medal he will become the most decorated Indian in Olympics in individual sport Shuttler PV Sindhu one silver one bronze wrestler Sushil Kumar one silver one bronze and shooter Manu Bhaker two bronze have won two Olympic medals each post Independence The tremendous effort which was the second best of his career also set aside concerns surrounding Choprarsquos fitness after he revealed that he had been battling an adductor niggle in the buildup to the Games His personal best continues to be 8994m achieved back in 2022 His 8934m throw may also raise hopes of millions of Indian fans to see Chopra cross the elusive 90m mark on ThursdayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever