"Even late at night at 1 AM, people were watching you"

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Olympic and World Championships gold medalist Neeraj Chopra following his silver medal win at the ongoing Paris Olympics and congratulated him for his second successive medal at the marquee event.

PM Modi also enquired about Neeraj's injury and lauded the sportsman spirit showed by his mother Saroj, who congratulated Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem for getting the gold and setting an Olympic record.

The Prime Minister said during the phone call, "You made the country proud again. Even late at night at 1 AM, people were watching you in action, looking at you with hope."

He lauded Neeraj for managing to deliver consistent performances despite his recent fitness issues.

Neeraj said that he could not push himself fully because of his injuries and the competition was tough.

"I am still happy to get a medal for my country in these circumstances. There are ups and downs in sport," he added.

Chopra fell short of retaining his gold medal in the men's javelin throw at the ongoing marquee event securing silver with a best throw of 89.45 meters.

Nadeem won gold with a throw of 92.97 meters, setting a new Olympic record and surpassing Denmark's Andreas Thorkildsen's mark from Beijing 2008. Grenada's Anderson Peters secured bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters.

Earlier, Chopra had achieved a throw of 89.34 meters in the Group B qualification round, his second-best all-time throw. Despite a competitive rivalry with Nadeem, where Chopra led 9-0 in their head-to-head matchups, Nadeem's throw of 90.18 meters at the 2022 Commonwealth Games exceeded Chopra's top effort.

Grenada's Anderson Peters secured the bronze with an 88.54 meters throw.

Following the failure to defend his gold medal, Neeraj expressed dissatisfaction with his performance and revealed that the last two to three years were not good for him in terms of fitness

• THE OLYMPICS, 2024