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Devendra Jhajharia
Legendary para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia feels it's a matter of time for star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra to breach the elusive 90m mark and predicted that he can throw 93m in one or two years. Chopra won a silver medal in the Paris Olympics with a throw of 89.45m earlier this month while the gold went to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who stunned the javelin world with an Olympic record effort of 92.97m. On Thursday, Chopra again finished second in the Lausanne Diamond League with a last round throw of 89.49m, behind two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who produced a monster throw of 90.61m. Jhajharia, himself a para-javelin throw legend with double Paralympics gold in F46 category, said when Chopra breaks the barrier of 90m, he will do it by a big margin, going past the elusive mark by 3 to 4 metres. "If I say in the language of javelin throw, 89-plus has become a barrier for Neeraj currently. I have seen in my sporting career of 20 years, when a barrier is broken i
Devendra Jhajharia was only eight when he lost part of his left arm after coming in contact with an electric wire while climbing a tree in his hometown of Churu in Rajasthan. And 34 years after that accident, life has come full circle for India's greatest para-athlete as the celebrated javelin thrower, who has won three Paralympic medals, including two gold, is now set to enter the political arena. The 42-year-old will be contesting on a BJP ticket in the upcoming general elections from his birthplace, which is the gateway to the Thar desert and hits the headlines annually for its record temperatures both in summers and winters. The childhood tragedy that led to the amputation of his left arm was just one of the many odds that Jhajharia battled to climb the ladder of success. His indefatigable spirit fetched him multiple medals at the Paralympics, the last one being a silver in the 2021 Tokyo Games. He is also a two-time para world championships medallist besides being a silver-win