Neeraj Chopra qualifies for javelin final with first attempt

India’s young javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra qualified for the final of his event at the Commonwealth Games, clearing the qualifying mark in just his first throw to finish second in his group.

Joining Chopra in the men's javelin thrown final was Vipin Kasana.

Chopra threw the javelin to 80.42 metres to achieve the mark in his first attempt.

The effort left him fourth overall in a field where seven of the 12 qualifiers achieved the mark set for the final.

The the final is on Saturday at 10.05 IST.

"I was happy with my (only) throw of 80.42 (metres) when the automatic qualifying was set at 78 metres," the 20-year-old former World junior champion from Haryana said.

"I have spent the past 25 days training with my coach Uwe Hohn (from Germany). This year he has been coaching in India and I will be training in Germany in three months," he added.

It must be noted that Australia’s Kathryn Mitchell also trains with Hohn. She won a silver in the event at the Games on April 11.

"She had a very good performance with a Games record (in the women's javelin throw). Australia must be very happy," Chopra said of her.

Like his junior teammate, Kasana also needed just one throw (78.88 metres) to make the final.

In men's 1500m, Jinson Johnson qualified for the finals after finishing second in his heat and eighth overall with a timing of 3 minute 47.04 seconds.

The men's 4x400m relay team of Suresh Jeevan, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Anas and Rajiv Arokia also qualified for the finals to be held on Saturday after finishing second with a time of 3:04.05 in the heat.

Meanwhile, Purnima Hembram finished seventh in the women's heptathlon, scoring a personal best total of 5834 points from the seven events.