HANGZHOU: Controversy marred Neeraj Chopra’s men’s javelin throw final at the Asian Games after the reigning Olympic and world champion successfully defended his crown won in Jakarta 2018 under a clear Hangzhou skyline here on Wednesday night.
Neeraj, who was coming into the Games on the back of a gruelling yet brilliant athletics season, looked primed for a gold medal-finish, which he did achieve with a season-bets throw of 88.88m on his fourth attempt, but not before high drama and a technical glitch threatened to spoil his party.
Neeraj, 25, also thwarted tough competition from compatriot Kishore Jena, who twice reset his personal best en route to his silver finish after heaving the barbell to a distance of 87.54m on his fourth throw. Jena, too, had his own troubles with competition officials after his second throw (79.76m) was deemed illegal for crossing the line when the Indian was clearly a foot behind the throwing line.
As Jena was shown the red flag, Neeraj walked up to him and propelled him to log his protest with the officials. After watching replays on television, the officials overturned their decision and reinstated the throw. Jena then came up with his two PB throws of 86.77m and 87.54m in his third and fourth attempt, respectively, to ensure a historic 1-2 finish for India in the men’s javelin throw competitions at the Asiad.
But it was Neeraj’s first throw at the start of the final that triggered controversy after it wasn’t measured by the officials due to a goof-up. The final was stopped for around 15 minutes as the Indian javelin ace argued with the officials, who were unable to gauge the distance the spear had travelled into the night and asked Neeraj for a re-throw of his first attempt.
Neeraj looked unhappy with the decision and could be seen shaking his head in dismay. Realising that the other competitors had been waiting for the issue to be resolved and to queue up for their attempts, Neeraj agreed for a re-throw which resulted in a lowly 82.38m.
Looking visibly annoyed, Neeraj channelled his inner strength and went for the gold-winning throw of 88.88 on his fourth to secure the top spot. He endured a brief scare during the final when Jena led him in the standings after registering 86.77m with his third throw to surpass his previous personal best of 84.77m.
Neeraj overtook him on his fourth attempt with an 88.88m throw and remained perched on the top thereafter. While Neeraj’s fifth throw yielded 80.80, he fouled his last after crossing the finishing line. Jena’s series read 81.26m, 79.76m, 86.77m, 87.54, X, X.
“The first throw looked good. I'll look at the video again to see how far it might have gone. Surprisingly, they didn’t measure. I am still puzzled, apparently the second athlete threw before they could even measure my throw and they lost the mark then. I protested but then other athletes were cooling down and it was getting unfair on them. So, they offered me a re-throw and I accepted. It’s the first time something like this has happened with me in a competition this big,” said Neeraj after his win.
Anju Bobby George, who is a senior vice president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), accused Chinese officials of “cheating” and “deliberate targeting” of Indian athletes. “Neeraj’s first throw was a very good throw. But they weren’t ready to measure it. Same thing also happened with Annu Rani (who won gold for India in women’s javelin throw) yesterday. Jyothi Yarraji also faced this (in 100m hurdles). I don’t know why they are doing this with Indian athletes. They are trying to cheat us, disturb our athletes. Neeraj’s first throw was a very good one. They are targeting Indian athletes. We still won gold and silver (in men’s javelin). But we are going to lodge an official protest (complaint) against the officials,” Anju said.
Neeraj concurred and said India must lodge a protest because events like the Asian Games come after every four years and athletes look forward to winning medals here. “It happened with Jyothi, me and Jena. So, there's something wrong but still, we have shown how hard we’ve worked and won medals. I haven’t seen anything like this in a big tournament. Athletes can get mentally down, even Jyothi was affected,” he said.
“Things like this have happened with some of the other athletes as well here, which is not right. Even Jena’s second throw was wrongly called foul. I think the protest must be lodged. I am happy to see Indians athletes are standing their ground and questioning the decisions of officials,” the javelin ace added.
Jena, too, weighed in. “We try to give 100 percent in every throw but sometimes things go wrong. In the second last throw, they called foul saying I had touched the line but I had not, I don’t think they checked properly. I have never seen anything like this anywhere ever, not even at a domestic level or small competitions in India.”
In the other athletics events of the day, India won the 35km race walk mixed team bronze after the pair of Ram Baboo and Manju Rani won bronze with a timing of 5:51:14. In the men’s high jump, Anil Kushare finished fourth with a season best jump of 2.26m, while in the women’s high jump, Pooja finished fifth with a best leap of 1.80m and Rubina Yadav came ninth after her best jump of 1.75m
