Neeraj Chopra failed in his quest for a World Championships gold medal, finishing second in the men’s javelin throw final in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday.
Defending champion Anderson Peters won the gold medal while the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, the Olympic silver medalist, finshed third.
Peters got off with an effort of 90.21m in his first attempt and bettered that with 90.46m in his second to emerge a clear winner.
After fouling in his opening throw, Chopra did well to gain ground moving to second after four rounds. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist cleared 82.39m in his second attempt and had throw of 86.37m in his third which moved him to No. 4 in the 12-man field.
The 24-year-old Indian star then cleared 88.13m in his fourth attempt to get into contention for the silver medal before fouling on his fifth attempt.
Chopra joins long jumper Anju Bobby George as the only Indians to win World Championships medal. Geroge won bronze in the 2003 edition.
Rohit Yadav, the other Indian in the final, placed tenth. He had a 78.72m throw in his third attempt, after 78.05m in his second and 77.95m in his first.
Since 2009, no javelin thrower has gone on to win the Olympics and World Championships gold at the same time.
Chopra was fancied to become the first men’s javelin thrower to follow Olympic success with a World Championships crown since Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen in 2008-09.
Had he won he would have become only the third male javelin thrower to follow Olympic success with World Championship gold after Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen (2008-09) and World record holder Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic in 2000-01 and 1992-93.
Chopra had set a new National record of 89.94m, just 6cm shy of the 90m mark, the gold standard in the world of javelin throw, at the prestigious Diamond League in Stockholm in June en route a silver medal.
He finished second behind Grenada’s Anderson Peters, who recorded a best throw of 90.31m.
