Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena won gold and silver respectively as India earned a historic 1-2 finish at the men's javelin throw event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Neeraj, the defending champion from 2018, was favoured to win once more, especially after Arshad Nadeem pulled out of the event. However, a bizarre start threw him off and Kishore Jena nearly pulled off an upset only for Neeraj to win gold with a season-best throw of 88.88m.
Neeraj had to retake his first throw, which appeared to have cleared the 86m mark, and then proceeded to not clear that effort in his first three efforts (82.38m, 84.49m, foul). Kishore Jena shocked the rest of the field with a personal best of 86.77m to take the lead in the third throw and then bettered it with his next throw of 87.54m. However, Neeraj produced his 88.88m effort in his fourth to win the event overall and also seal a 1-2 for India.
Genki Dean of Japan took bronze with a throw of 82.68m.
This was Jena's first medal at a major international event, after he finished fifth on debut at the World Championships earlier in the year.
What they said
Neeraj:
On today: If I am being honest, I felt I would throw 90m after my first throw. I had a behas with the officials after the first throw. The throw was good but they did not measure it. But it's okay, I am happy, with my throw of 88.88m. I am very happy for Jena. When he was leading, it was a lot of fun. He has qualified for Paris. We were both pushing each other.
On Jena leading: This happens often, even in the Diamond League, the competition keeps increasing until the 6th throw. One or the other thrower leads we have to believe till the last throw that we can do it. Experience counts in such situations. But really, Jena made it really fun today.
On the medal and being an inspiration: It feels very good. I have won a medal today and will soon begin preparing for the next one. When children say that they see me as their idol or when parents say that they want their children to become like me, it's a very big thing for me. To represent India and motivate my country and the children, there's nothing bigger than that.
Kishore:
I wanted to do my personal best and I achieved that. My body felt great since the morning and I wanted to do well. I planned to give it my best in not one, but every throw. That's what I aimed to do: a new personal best.
Neeraj bhai is my idol and will be. I keep learning from him. He is a senior khiladi and my idol. I started javelin after seeing him throw.
Neeraj Chopra's bizarre start
Neeraj Chopra's Asian Games javelin title defence got off to a bizarre start: he had to re-take his first throw because another athlete went for a throw before Neeraj's was measured.
It seemed a blow at the time because that throw, to the naked eye and using the markers on the TV screen, measured around 87m. It should not affect his hunt for gold, though; at the time of writing he was comfortably ahead of the field.
Neeraj, the #1 thrower in the field, was the second athlete to throw in the men's javelin final. The Olympic champion went through his paces as usual: he stretched out his shoulders, fixed his hair, fixed his belt and ran down the runway.
The release was great: the javelin soared and Neeraj turned around to execute his trademark celebration - a roar, a 180-degree turn and his hand raised with the index finger raised to the sky. To the naked eye, Neeraj's throw.
As he waited for the official result, Kuwait's Abdulrahman Alazemi, assuming he was good to go, finished his first attempt. Then, though, officials indicated that they had not measured Neeraj's throw yet.
The officials spoke to Alazemi, telling him that he had not been cleared to throw yet. But the damage had been done. Neeraj asked for an update but the official just shrugged and Neeraj was anxious. The ordeal went on for 15 minutes.
For the first three minutes, Neeraj paced around, played with his hair, scratched his nose and put on a jacket.
Then he grabbed a bottle of water, folded his hands, and just stood across the judge's desk. Alazemi went up to say something to Neeraj, but Neeraj just stood there.
Ten minutes later, Neeraj put on a thicker jacket and went to the judge's desk in the hope of a reply. His coaching staff in the stands looked on with puzzled faces.
Another five minutes later, an official came up to Neeraj, explained they had not measured the throw and asked him if he'd would be okay to re-take his throw.
He returned a minute later and prepared as though it was his first throw: adjusted his belt, stretched his shoulders. His throw measured 82.38m, around 4 metres less than the first throw.