A huge controversy erupted during Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw event at the Asian Games when his first attempt was not measured, prompting legendary Anju Bobby George to accuse Chinese officials of “trying to cheat” and “deliberately to target the Indians”. It looked like Chopra had comfortably crossed 85 meters but to his surprise the effort was not registered by the officials and he was not given any reason for it. “I don’t know why they didn’t measure my first throw. Just after me, the second and third participants had their throws and their distance was measured. I kept asking what happened to my first throw,” Chopra told reporters after the victory. gold medal on his fourth attempt.
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“I was amazed and confused. This has never happened in any competition I’ve been in so far. I think they lost my landing point and kept looking for it.” Kishore Jena, who joined Chopra on the podium with his silver-winning effort, also had his second throw declared void for crossing the line, but the decision was later overturned.
Anju Bobby George, the senior vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), accused the officials of deliberately targeting the Indians.
“They are trying to cheat us and trying to disturb our athletes. Neeraj’s first throw was a very good throw and it was a kind of disruption. We called Neeraj to protest there himself. Jena’s throw was also called foul when he one foot was behind the ball. line,” the legendary long jumper claimed.
Anju thinks winning in China is difficult because their officials are always up for some ‘mischief’ and disrupting the athletes.
“Winning in China is very difficult, so even though we are the best runner, thrower and jumper, they will do all this kind of mischief and disturb our athletes.” When asked if the umpires gave a reason for not measuring his first throw, Chopra said, “One of the umpires said that the second athlete after me had taken his throw quickly. It was a bizarre situation.” “I was told it was a very good throw, probably 87-88 yards. Mentally you feel relieved when your first throw is very good. Later they told me I would get another throw on the first try.” He’s a perfect gentleman, and Chopra agreed.
“I had no other means, I thought there was no point in discussing for a long time. I also thought it would affect the competition of other competitors. The other competitors were waiting and I have to respect them too. The wind was blowing and everyone was waiting.” I’m cold, so I thought I’d do the throw later.
“The rule says only six throws, but for the first time I got seven throws in a competition,” he said with a laugh.
Chopra’s next attempt was 82.38 meters. Jena, the second Indian in the fray, led at the halfway mark after three deliveries. But Chopra came up with the season’s best throw of 88.8 meters in his fourth attempt to win the gold.
Jena won silver with his fourth round throw of 87.54 meters. Jena booked a spot for the 2024 Olympics, for which the qualifying mark is 85.50 meters.
Chopra cited several other instances of alleged “cheating”, including the red card of 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji for a false start before her medal was upgraded from bronze to silver, and failure to measure Annu Rani’s throw.
“I felt sorry that my first throw in such a big match turned out like that. Jyothi ki saath bhi aisa huwa, mere saath garbar huwa hey. Jena ka ek throw mey bhi huwa. So there were problems, but in the end I would get our De results were good. Despite what was done, we showed that we were prepared.
“Our team certainly needs to investigate why there are so many problems we are facing. I have never seen this kind of thing in major competitions. I or any other athlete could have been mentally depressed after the first throw. everything happen. Jyothi also fought,” he said.
Anju also alleged that Chinese officials were deliberately targeting the Indian athletes.
“This is the Asian Games, not a small national championship. I don’t know why they are doing this and they are mainly targeting Indians. It was deliberate.” She even felt that one of long jumper M Sreeshankar’s jumps was not measured accurately.
“I doubt it wasn’t 8.19 metres. It was much better than that and one of them raised the red flag. It wasn’t a foul, I think.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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