Neeraj Chopra becomes 1st Indian to set world record in Jr athletics Championship

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra (18) has created history by becoming first Indian Junior athlete to create a World Record in Junior athletics Championship.
He achieved this feat, by throwing javelin at a record distance of 86.48 m in his second attempt in the IAAF Under-20 World Athletics Championship held in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He won gold medal in this event.
Besides, South African Johan Grobler (80.59m) won the silver medal and Anderson Peters (79.65m) of Granada won the bronze medal.
With this, Neeraj Chopra broke the previous record of 84.69 metres held by Latvian Zigismunds Sirmais by nearly two metres.
Neeraj Chopra is only the third Indian athlete who has won a medal in the U-20 World Championships i.e. in the Junior athletics Championship. Other two are discus throwers Seema Antil Punia (won Bronze medal in 2002) and Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (won Bronze medal in 2014).

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2016