Discus thrower Vikas Gowda announces retirement
New Delhi, May 30: India's star discus thrower Vikas Gowda announced his retirement on Wednesday.
The current national record holder, who has represented India at the international level for 15 years, sent a letter to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), informing the national body of his decision to call it a day.
"@vikgo70 Vikas Gowda, #India's greatest discus thrower, Olympian, CWG2014 gold medallist retires from Athletics. Thanks, Vikas for serving Indian athletics & taking it to great heights. All the best Champ!" the AFI announced on Twitter.
The 34-year-old had set the current national record of 66.28 metre in 2012, when he had bettered the previous record held by Shakti Singh.
The most decorated Indian in the throwing events, Gowda had won gold medals at the Asian Championships in 2013 and 2015.
He became the only Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) when he took the title at the 2014 edition in Glasgow. He also took a silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
He had bagged silver at the 2014 Asian Games and a bronze at the 2010 edition.
He represented the country at the Olympics in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. His best performance came at the 2012 London Games where he finished eighth.
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Neeraj Chopra wins Golden Spike meet
Ostrava (Czech Republic), Jun 24 (PTI): Indian javelin throw superstar Neeraj Chopra on Tuesday clinched the title at the Golden Spike meet in his maiden appearance here, his back-to-back win in a top-class competition.
Fresh from his Paris Diamond League win on June 20, Chopra 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.
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.
The 27-year-old Chopra has had an impressive season so far, having won his first Diamond League title in two years in Paris after also breaching the elusive 90m mark during his second place finish in Doha DL in May.
