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The ongoing Asian Games 2023 has seen three to four incidents where Indian athletes were involved in some part of the controversy. While Jyothi Yarraji was a part of it a few days ago, Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra was a witness of one this evening on October 4, Wednesday.
Also Read: Neeraj Chopra defends his gold; Kishore Jena takes silver in men's javelin
Seeing Neeraj Chopra to rethrow the javelin in the men’s event, two-time Olympian and India’s first athletics world championship medal winner, Anju Bobby George has hit out at the officials for yet another controversy. The retired athlete said, “I think it’s calculated. I think they are trying to cheat us. One or two is okay, but this is continuously happening with us,” she said.
“We are going to protest against all the officials,” Anju Bobby George further added on officiating and technical issues at the ongoing Games.
While Neeraj Chopra retained his gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 after the goof-up which forced him to retake his first throw. The incident happened soon after the Diamond League 2022 winner threw his first attempt which was above 82m but the officials called for a technical glitch and failed to measure the throw.
Although Neeraj sealed the gold with a massive 88.88m throw, which came in his fourth attempt and said, “The first throw looked good, I’ll look at the video to see how far it might have gone. Surprisingly, they didn’t measure it. I am still puzzled, apparently the second athlete threw before they could even measure my throw and they lost the mark then. I protested but then it was breezy and other athletes were cooling down. It was getting unfair on them. So, they offered me a re-throw and I accepted.”
