Neeraj strikes another gold, beats Cheng of Taipei

TIL Desk Sports/ Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, on Sunday, won a gold in the Savo Games in Finland with an impressive performance, beating his Chinese Taipei rival Chao-Tsun Cheng as the duo warmed up for an Asian Games showdown.

Neeraj, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Asian season leader, threw 85.69m in the event held at Lapinlahti, Finland, where he is undergoing training as part of preparations for the Asian Games. Cheng managed 82.52m to take the second place.

The 23-year-old Cheng is the only Asian to have thrown the javelin beyond 90m. He threw 91.36m during the World University Games in Taipei last year to shatter the previous Asian record of 89.15m set by Zhao Qinggang of China at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

But this season, his best so far has beena 84.60m effort earlier this month in Sweden. Neeraj has a personal best and national record of 87.43m which he did during the first leg of the Diamond League Meeting in Doha in May.  Neeraj is leading the Asian charts so far this season, ahead of Cheng and Ahmed Bader Magour of Qatar (season best 83.71m).