Neeraj Chopra begins Diamond League title defence with win in Doha
Doha, May 5: Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra began his Diamond League title defence with a comfortable win in the season-opening leg here on Friday, with a world leading and fourth career-best effort.
The 25-year-old Chopra, who had pocketed the 2022 Diamond League Final trophy in Switzerland in September last, beat a star-studded field with a best throw of 88.67m to begin his season in style.
Chopra hit his straps in his first attempt itself with a world-leading throw of 88.67m, which was his fourth career-best effort to position himself on the top of the pile. He maintained the lead till the end to win the event in his second appearance at the Qatar Sports Club.
He had finished fourth in his first appearance here in 2018.
Silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic went agonisingly close to Chopra's best mark with a second round throw of 88.63m, four centimeter short of the Indian's effort.
Vadlejch had also won silver in the Tokyo Olympics. He had also won a silver in the Doha Diamond League last year with a 90.88m throw.
Reigning world champion Anderson Peters, who had won the event here last year with a monster throw of 93.07m, finished third with a modest best throw of 85.88m.
Chopra, who has a personal best of 89.94m, could not sustain the tempo of his first attempt as he could only send the spear to 86.04m and then to 85.47m before fouling his throw in the fourth. He managed 84.37m and 85.62m in his fifth and sixth attempts.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
