Neeraj wins second straight Diamond League title in Lausanne

Lausanne: Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra continued his tremendous form as he came back from a one-month injury lay-off to clinch the top spot in the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League, his second straight win of the season in the prestigious one-day meeting series, here on Friday.

The 25-year-old Chopra had skipped three top events due to a muscle strain he sustained while training last month but came back with a bang as he won the Diamond League title here with his fifth-round throw of 87.66m.

He began with a foul and then had 83.52m and 85.04m throws. He had another foul in the fourth round before coming up with his winning throw of 87.66m next. His sixth and last throw was 84.15m.

Germany’s Julian Weber was second with a best throw of 87.03m, while Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic was third with an 86.13m effort.

Chopra had won the Lausanne leg in August last year also for his maiden Diamond League title. He then went on to win the Diamond League trophy in the grand finale a month later.

The Indian superstar had won the season-opening Diamond League meeting in Doha on May 5 with a throw of 88.67m. He has a personal best of 89.94m.

In the men’s long jump, India’s Murali Sreeshankar finished fifth with a below-par jump of 7.88m which he achieved in the third round.

The 24-year-old Sreeshankar, who had clinched the third spot in the Paris leg on June 9 for his maiden Diamond League podium finished had produced a career-best 8.41m during the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar earlier this month.