Despite his best throw of 89.45 meters, the 26-year-old Neeraj narrowly missed out on defending his gold medal title.Although he delivered an impressive throw on his second attempt, he encountered difficulties with four consecutive foul throws, which ultimately prevented him from clinching the gold. Nonetheless, Neeraj’s accomplishment makes him the second male athlete from post-independence India to secure two Olympic medals in an individual event.
Sumariwalla expressed his belief that people often place excessive emphasis on medals, a perspective he personally disagrees with. He highlighted that Neeraj had overcome an injury to claim the silver medal, demonstrating an “unbelievably good” performance in the final event.
“I think people give too much stress on medals. I am one of those who doesn’t talk about medals. I think if the process is right, medals will come. Look at what happened. He came back from an injury. In Tokyo, he got a golden. Today he threw 2 meters more than he threw in Tokyo but had to settle for a silver…He got a season’s best. I think he’s a tiger. He fought like a tiger. He recovered from an injury and he was just unbelievably good…He’s a champion. That’s what champions are made of….,” Sumariwalla told ANI.
Neeraj faced challenges during the competition. His first and third attempts were ruled invalid due to red flags, and his final three attempts were also deemed fouls.
This came as a surprise considering his impressive performance in the qualification round, where he threw an impressive 89.34 meters.
Despite his best efforts, Neeraj’s second-best throw of 89.45 meters was not sufficient to secure the gold medal.
The pressure seemed to be mounting on him before his fifth attempt, and he unfortunately crossed the line once more, resulting in another red flag. His sixth and final attempt met the same fate, as he crossed the line while releasing the javelin, leading to disqualification.
