India's double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra has added another feather in his cap by clinching the title at the Golden Spike meet in his maiden appearance here, his back-to-back win in a top-class competition.
Neeraj, who recently won the Paris Diamond League on June 20, emerged on top in a nine-man field here, though with a modest effort of 85.29m in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.
The double Olympic medallist started the competition with a foul throw. Then he made a comeback with an effort of 83.45m before unleashing the throw, which helped him take the lead. Chopra's fourth, fifth and sixth throws were 82.17m, 81.01m and foul, respectively.
He had skipped the last two editions of Golden Spike, an event that his coach, Jan Zelezny, won nine times in a storied career -- due to fitness issues.
ALSO READ: 'It is no one else's business...': Ravi Shastri's stern response on India-Pakistan Test matches goes viral
Chopra began his season with an invitational meet in Potchefstroom, South Africa, where he won with a throw of 84.52m. He breached the 90m mark in his appearance at the Diamond League opener in Doha. Despite the milestone, the legendary athlete finished second to Germany’s Julian Weber, who threw a world-leading 91.06m, also his first 90m+ throw.
After Doha, Neeraj competed at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Chorzów, Poland, where he (84.14m) again finished second to Weber (86.12m).
Neeraj finally beat Weber at the Paris Diamond League on Friday as the Indian topped the field with his opening throw of 88.16m.
Neeraj will now be seen in action in the inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic event, which will take place at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on July 5.