A huge controversy erupted during Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Asian Games when his first attempt was not measured, prompting legendary Anju Bobby George to accuse the Chinese officials of "trying to cheat" and "deliberately targeting the Indians". (Pic: AFP)
Updated On: 2023-10-04 10:42 PM IST
Compiled by : Srijanee Majumdar
It seemed Chopra had comfortably cleared the 85m mark but to his surprise the effort was not recorded by the officials and he was not given any reason for that
Anju Bobby George, the senior vice president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) accused the officials of deliberately targeting the Indians. "They are trying to cheat us and trying to disturb our athletes. Neeraj's first throw was a very good throw and it was a kind of disturbance. We called Neeraj to protest there itself. Jena's throw also called foul when he was one foot behind the line," the legendary long jumper alleged.
Chopra's next attempt measured 82.38m. Jena, the second Indian in the fray, was leading at the halfway mark of three throws. But Chopra came up with a season's best throw of 88.8m in his fourth attempt to win the gold. Jena won the silver with his fourth round throw of 87.54m. Jena booked 2024 Olympics spot, for which the qualifying mark is 85.50m.
Chopra cited several other instances of alleged "cheating", including the red-carding of 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji for false start before her medal was upgraded from bronze to silver, and not measuring of Annu Rani's throw
Anju also alleged that Chinese officials are deliberately targeting the Indian athletes. "This is Asian Games not a small National Championship. I don't know why they are doing this and especially they are targeting Indians. It was deliberate."
