Neeraj Chopra adds silver to hockey’s back-to-back Olympic bronze | Paris Olympics 2024 News – Times of India

PARIS: Star athlete Neeraj Chopra won India’s sole silver medal in the Paris Games with a season’s best throw of 89.45m in javelin on a day the hockey team had snatched its second successive Olympic bronze.
While Chopra became the first Indian to win an Olympic gold and a silver in athletics, the event was dominated by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who won gold with a massive throw of 92.97m.He secured Pakistan’s first Olympic medal since 1992.
Earlier, the hockey team beat Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match. It turned out to be a scintillating encounter. Spain scored first. India hit back with two quick goals. The 4th quarter saw Spain put relentless pressure.

They earned two penalty corners in the 59th minute and two in the last minute. Indians defended with all their might and ensured a win.
The bronze victory shows how well India have travelled in the past few years, how good they are. Ten of this bunch were there on the podium in Tokyo. They knew what was needed of them. They knew how to keep emotions in check. They knew how to win it. This team is special.
The Indians celebrated and soon got into a huddle, holding each other tight. Then the victory lap began. They first lifted Sreejesh, playing his farewell match, high in the air. The crowd roared its approval. Sreejesh has been the star performer of this team here, along with skipper Harmanpreet Singh.
When the match began, in the first quarter, Spain made the first attack but were foiled easily. India took time to settle down and were soon running at their rivals. A good chance went abegging in the 6th minute. Mandeep Singh raced into the circle from the left and passed to an unmarked Sukhjeet, who hit it out.