Sachin Yadav finished as the highest placed Indian at he final of the javelin throw event in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday, as he came in fourth to finish ahead of compatriot Neeraj Chopra and Pakistani rival Arshad Nadeem.
Yadav registered a personal best effort of 86.27m on his first attempt in the summit clash in the Japanese Capital City to finish fourth in the highly competitive event.
Following the showing, Yadav’s coach Naval Singh revealed that he had set a benchmark for his ward, to finish ahead of Nadeem, who clinched the Olympic Gold Medal at Paris 2024.
“I told him that come what may, make sure you finish ahead of Nadeem,” Singh said after the conclusion of the event.
“He promised he would. I think it was extra
motivation,” he continued.
“Neeraj is the best in the world, Sachin proved that he has the potential to be one of the best,” he added.
Chopra, finished 8th, bringing an end to his incredible seven-year streak of finishing in the podium as he could only manage a throw of 84.03m due to the back injury he sustained a couple of weeks ago.
Singh also revealed that he set Yadav a benchmark of 90m, which he has scaled in training, but the 25-year-old will have to wait a bit longer to officially breach the coveted distance as he fell short of it in Japan.
“I reminded him that he has the power as well as the technique to produce a big throw. My target for him was 90 metres today,” Singh said.
“He has thrown 90 metres in practice. But though he fell short in the final, he proved that he can handle the pressure of the World Championships,” he added.
AFI chairman Lalit Bhanot touched up on the impact of the federation’s efforts towards the sport of javelin throw in the past decade and the subsequent results.
“The AFI has focused on javelin for the last 15 years. We had foreign coaches back then, but when India didn’t win medals, we were questioned as to why we were focusing on javelin. Today, we have Neeraj and Sachin,” he said
“Yash Vir and Rohit also qualified for the World Championships. There is a javelin revolution in the country. Sachin will get all the support he needs, as he is world-class,” Bhanot added.
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