Indian javelin ace Neeraj Chopra said he had been competing with a fractured hand when he took second place in the Diamond League Final in Brussels last Saturday for the second year in succession. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Just wanted to share. Had been competing with a fractured hand during the last week.” In his accompanying post, an X-ray image showed a fracture in his left ring finger. Despite injury, Chopra managed to get a best throw of 87.86m behind Grenada’s Anderson Peters. He won with an 87.87m throw. Germany’s Julian Weber was placed third with a 85.97m throw.
As the 2024 season ends, I look back on everything I’ve learned through the year – about improvement, setbacks, mentality and more.
---Advertisement---On Monday, I injured myself in practice and x-rays showed that I had fractured the fourth metacarpal in my left hand. It was another painful… pic.twitter.com/H8nRkUkaNM
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) September 15, 2024
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Competing in Agony
Neeraj said he wanted to compete, injury and all, at the end of the season. “This was the last competition of the year and I wanted to finish off the season on the track,” he said, adding that even though he could not meet his own expectation, he learned much from his experience. He promised to come back stronger and thanked the supporters for encouragement. “2024 has made me a better athlete and person,” he wrote.
Close Run in Brussels
On the 14th of September at the Diamond League Final at King Baudouin Stadium, Neeraj opened with a throw of 86.82 to sit just behind Peters, who had thrown 87.87 in the first round. Even when Chopra produced a brilliant third throw of 87.86 meters, he could only narrowly miss the top spot by a mere centimeter. Peters’s first throw was never beaten at the competition.
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Neeraj Chopra another runner-up finish
It has been the second successive year that Neeraj has finished the Diamond League Final as runner-up. Last year also, he was runner-up, this time losing out to Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic. Neeraj won the Diamond League title2022, but this year’s runner-up finish crowned a testing yet a successful season that brought him success in a silver medal in the Paris Olympics.
Despite the injury and finish as a second, Neeraj plans to come back much stronger, though he did end the year well.
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