Neeraj Chopra finishes second in Diamond League Finals, Weber wins maiden trophy
Zurich(PTI): Two-time Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished runner-up in the Diamond League Finals for the third time in a row as Julian Weber of Germany lifted his maiden trophy with two 90m-plus throws in a commanding show here on Thursday.
Chopra was lying third till the fifth round following his opening throw of 84.35m before his final effort of 85.01m took him to the second spot, overtaking 2012 London Olympics gold winner Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago who ended third with 84.95m.
Weber achieved a season world leading throw of 91.57m, his personal best, in his second attempt. He began with 91.37m effort, and after that it was a one-man show in the seven-man field.
None of Weber's rivals could even come near his mark, as his best effort of the day was over 6m more than that of Chopra. The German had a foul, 83.66m, 86.45m and 88.66m after his second throw.
Clearly, Chopra was not at his best in the season's Diamond League grand finale. He had three legal throws out of the six attempts.
Known for his consistency in producing 88m-plus throws, it was a rare instance of the 27-year-old Indian star just being able to touch the 85m mark.
He was hoping to regain the trophy he had won in 2022, but ended up finishing second for the third time after 2023 and 2024.
Defending champion Anderson Peters of Grenada was fourth with 82.06m.
Chopra was not his usual self as he began with 84.35m and then followed it up with 82m and a foul. He was at third spot at the halfway stage, and he fouled his fourth and fifth attempts before coming up with a 85.01m effort in his last throw.
"This was not too bad. But we are getting very close to the world championships, so I still need to throw a little bit further. There were a few things that went well, but still, there were the things which did not go that well," Chopra said after the event.
"In the last attempt, I still managed to throw 85. But I am very happy for Julian today - he managed to throw really far, and to show 91m was really good. We will see in three weeks.
"I still need to train a little bit. In this sport, we do not know. It depends on the day."
Chopra said everything "will be different" in Tokyo during the World Championships (September 13-21).
"Julian, he is a good friend of mine and I am always happy when he is doing well and we push each other. There will be some friends from India coming to cheer for me in Tokyo.
"I have some friends who live there. At major championships, the gold is more important than the far throws. So I will try my best to win the medal."
Weber's effort was also his third 90m-plus throw of the season as well as his career. He had breached the coveted 90m mark with a 91.06m throw while winning the Doha DL title on May 16.
Chopra also breached the 90m mark for the first time in Doha with a throw of 90.23m but finished second behind Weber.
Chopra will now head to Tokyo for next month's World Championships as the defending champion.
Weber 3-1 against Chopra in head-to-head this season.
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Cong says LoPs not invited to Putin banquet, takes swipe at Tharoor for accepting invite
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have not been invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took a swipe at its own MP Shashi Tharoor for accepting the invite.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited."
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the government of breaking protocols daily and not believing in democratic principles.
"There is no invite to both the LoPs, Mr (Mallikarjun) Kharge and Mr (Rahul) Gandhi. This comes as a surprise but I don't think we should be surprised. This government is known to be breaching all protocols. What else to say, ask the government," he told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an event.
Asked about party MP Tharoor getting invited to the banquet and accepting the invitation, Khera said, "Ask Mr. Tharoor. All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable," Khera said.
"We would have listened to our voice of conscience," he added.
Earlier, Tharoor said there was a time when the chairman of the external affairs committee was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped from some years.
"It has been resumed ...I have been invited, yes. I will definitely go," the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said.
On the LoPs reportedly not getting an invite, Tharoor said, "I don't know on what basis invitations were sent. I think the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs, (but) various other cross section of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression."
"I dont know the basis (of invitation), this is all done by the government, by the protocol by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, what do I know. All I can say I have honoured to have been invited. Of course I will go," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
Gandhi on Thursday had alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".
His remarks had come hours ahead of Putin's two-day visit to India.
Gandhi had said it is a tradition that visiting foreign dignitaries meet the LoP but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following this norm.
"Normally the tradition is that those who come from abroad have a meeting with the LoP. This used to happen during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji's time, Manmohan Singh ji's time, it has been a tradition but what happens these days is that when foreign dignitaries come and when I go abroad, the government suggests to them to not meet the LoP," Gandhi had told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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