Neeraj Chopra scripts history yet again, becomes first Indian to win gold medal in World Athletics
Budapest (PTI): Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra on Sunday scripted history yet again as he became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the World Athletics Championships with a big throw of 88.17m in the men's javelin final here.
In another first, three Indians finished in top eight with Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14m) taking the fifth and sixth spots respectively. Never before did three Indians finish in top eight of an event in the World Championships.
The 25-year-old Chopra achieved his best throw of the day in his second attempt. He had a foul to start with, but then got 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m.
Pakistan's reigning Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem took the silver with his season's best throw of 87.82m, while Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic got the bronze.
Chopra has now become only the second Indian -- after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra -- to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships title. Bindra won the World Championships title when he was 23, and the Olympics gold at 25.
Chopra, who had become the first Indian Olympic track and field gold medallist in Tokyo Games in 2021, had won a silver in the 2022 edition of World Championships.
Before him, legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George had won a bronze in the 2003 World Championships.
The Indian superstar also became only the third javelin thrower in history to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships titles after the iconic Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.
Zelezny clinched Olympics gold in 1992, 1996 and 200 while winning World Championships title in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Thorkildsen won gold in 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships.
With his feat on Sunday, Chopra has won every title his sport has to offer. He has won gold in the Asian Games (2018) and Commonwealth Games (2018), besides four individual Diamond League Meeting titles (two each in 2022 and 2023) and Diamond League champion's trophy last year.
He also became junior world champion in 2016 and won the Asian Championships title in 2017.
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Ramadan, Lent coincide this year — happens once in 30 yrs
This year, Ramadan and Lent are reportedly being observed during the same period, a calendar overlap that happens only once in roughly 30 to 33 years.
According to a post by ‘That Dubai Page’ on Instagram both are important periods of fasting in Islam and Christianity respectively, but they follow different calendars, which is why their dates usually do not align.
What is Lent?
Lent is a 40-day period in the Christian liturgical calendar observed before Easter.
It is marked by fasting, prayer, repentance and self-examination.
The duration of 40 days reflects the time Jesus is believed to have fasted in the wilderness. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends before Easter Sunday, and the feast mass is celebrated on Saturday.
The exact dates change every year because they are linked to Easter, which is calculated based on the Christian liturgical calendar.
What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer and spiritual discipline. From dawn to sunset each day, adult and able-bodied Muslims abstain from food and drink. The fast is broken at sunset.
Unlike Lent, Ramadan does not follow the Gregorian calendar.
According to admiddleeast.com , Ramadan depends on the sighting of the new crescent moon, known as the hilāl, which signals the start of the new lunar month.
Religious committees in many Muslim-majority countries meet after sunset on the 29th day of the preceding month, Sha‘ban, to look for the moon.
If it is sighted, Ramadan begins the next day. If not, Sha‘ban is completed as a 30-day month and Ramadan starts after that.
While Saudi Arabias announcement is widely followed, each country makes its own official declaration.
Why dont they always overlap?
The Islamic lunar calendar has around 354 days, which is about 10 to 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar.
Because of this difference, Ramadan shifts earlier by about 10 or 11 days each year. Over time, it moves through all seasons.
Lent, on the other hand, is tied to Easter and the Christian liturgical calendar. Since the two religious observances are based on different systems for calculating dates, they rarely fall at the same time.
How often does the overlap happen?
The overlap happens in cycles of approximately 30 to 33 years. When it happens, Ramadan and Lent may coincide for a few consecutive years. After that, they do not align again for decades.
Following the current cycle, major overlaps are not expected again until the 2050s.
