Paris, Aug 6: The reigning Olympics champion and Indian javelin throw ace Neeraj Chopra stood up to the billing as he secured a direct qualification Tuesday for the finals.

The Panipat lad breached the qualification mark of 84 metres in his first attempt, where he registered a throw of 89.34 metres. 

This effort is also his best in the season so far, surpassing his previous best of 88.36m, which he set at the Doha Diamond League in May. 

He holds the national record of 89.94m, achieved at the Stockholm Diamond League in Sweden in June 2022.

Notably, Neeraj secured the gold medal at Tokyo Olympics with 87.58m throw in his second attempt after qualifying for the finals with a throw of 86.65m. 

With this feat, he became the first Indian Olympian to win a gold medal in athletics, and the first post-independence Indian Olympic medalist in athletics.

However, Odisha superstar Kishore Kumar Jena had a horrible outing as he finished ninth with a throw of 80.73m in his first attempt in the qualification round. His second attempt was red flagged (foul) before registering 80.21m in his final attempt.

The final round will take place Thursday. Neeraj is expected to be challenged in the finals by Germany's Julian Webber (87.76m qualifying effort), Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch (85.63), Grenada's Anderson Peters (88.63m) and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem (86.59m).

Read More: Sports News