Chopra finishes second in DL final, misses crown by 1cm
Brussels (PTI): Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra came agonisingly close to winning the Diamond League crown before missing it by just one centimetre to finish as runner-up for the second consecutive year with a throw of 87.86m in the season finale here.
The 26-year-old Chopra, who had won the DL trophy in 2022 before finishing second last year, achieved his best throw of the day in his third attempt but that was 1cm short of eventual winner Anderson Peters' 87.87m effort on Saturday.
Grenada's Peters, a two-time world champion, produced his best throw of the day in his opening attempt. Julian Weber of Germany was third with 85.97m.
Chopra, who added a silver to his Olympic medal tally in Paris following a historic gold at the Tokyo Games, thus ended his season on a high.
The Indian javelin throw superstar, who has a personal best of 89.94m and season's best of 89.49m, had a series of 86.82m, 83.49m, 87.86m, 82.04m, 83.30m and 86.46m.
The top three led the seven-man field in the same order for the whole competition.
Peters will collect a Diamond League trophy and USD 30,000 for emerging as the DL champion this season.
Chopra will pocket USD 12,000 for his second-place finish in the grand finale which marked the end of the prestigious Diamond League series after 14 legs, as well as the end of international athletics season.
The Haryana athlete remained consistent throughout the season, though he won just one international event this season, the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 18.
He had made the Diamond League final cut after finishing fourth in the overall standings with 14 points from his two second-place finishes in DL one-day meets in Doha and Lausanne on May 10 and August 22.
Chopra has been struggling with his fitness this season and is expected to meet a doctor to rectify a groin injury that has affected him all season and came in the way of his quest to hit the 90m mark.
On Friday, national record-holding 3000m steeplechaser Sable had finished ninth in a 10-man field in his maiden DL final with a mediocre time of 8 minute and 17.09 seconds to end a largely disappointing season. He had finished 11th in the Olympic Games.
It was for the first time that a DL finale featured two Indians.
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Hyderabad airport receives three bomb threats for incoming flights
Hyderabad (PTI): Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has received three bomb threats to flights coming from different cities, including two international, sources said.
The airport received emails on late Sunday night targeting British Airways' (BA 277) from Heathrow, Lufthansa’s (LH 752) from Frankfurt and IndiGo's 6E 7178 from Kannur.
Airport sources said all the flights landed safely. The two international flights landed here during the early hours of Monday.
"Standard safety protocols were initiated for all three aircraft," sources said.
Standard safety protocols include isolation of the aircraft, screening of baggage and passengers, keeping fire engines ready and pressing sniffer dogs into services, among others, sources added.
Last week, the RGIA received bomb threat emails for the Dubai-Hyderabad Emirates flight and IndiGo's Madina–Hyderabad and Sharjah-Hyderabad flights separately.
Madina–Hyderabad was diverted to Ahmedabad airport.
