Top News

Tezzbuzz Desk – India's star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has continuously improved his performance after returning from injury, but victory is still far from him. Neeraj gave his best performance of this season by throwing 88.06 meters in the Diamond League match held in Lausanne, Switzerland. Despite this he could not reach the first place. Sri Lanka's young javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga Pathiraga won with a throw of 88.14 meters. In this way Neeraj missed winning the title by a mere margin of 14 cm.

There was a tough competition between Neeraj and Rumesh in the men's javelin throw event held on Friday night, August 21, in Lausanne. Pakistan's star javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem was not taking part in this match, hence the match between Indian and Sri Lankan players was the center of special attraction. The performance of both the players also gave a glimpse of a new rivalry between India and Sri Lanka in javelin throw. Rumesh started the competition in brilliant style. He achieved first place by throwing 85.99 meters in his very first attempt. In response, Neeraj also threw 83.54 meters in his first attempt and reached second place. In the second round, Rumesh further improved his performance and made a throw of 87.06 meters.

After this Neeraj showed his true strength. In the second attempt, he left Rumesh behind by throwing the javelin 88.06 meters and reached number one in the competition. This was Neeraj's longest throw of this season. Earlier, he had made a throw of 85.83 meters in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. That means he improved his season best performance by more than 2 meters in Lausanne. However, Neeraj's lead could not last long. In the third attempt, Rumesh Tharanga Pathiraga made a brilliant throw of 88.14 meters. With this effort he took a lead of only 8 centimeters over Neeraj. Neeraj made a throw of 83.72 meters in the third round and after this he could not cross his best performance of 88.06 meters in his remaining attempts.

Ultimately Rumesh stood first with 88.14 metres, while Neeraj stood second with 88.06 metres. This is the second consecutive big event, in which Neeraj improved his season best performance, but could not win. Neeraj also stood second in the Commonwealth Games 2026. However, this performance is a positive sign for his comeback after being away from competitive action for several months due to injury. Now the next target for Neeraj is the Diamond League final. He is on the threshold of qualification for the final to be held in Brussels on 5 September. His confidence must have increased after his best performance of the season in Lausanne. Indian fans will hope that Neeraj continues his momentum and does not stay away from victory by just a few centimeters in the final this time.