Neeraj Chopra’s 90m dream achieved: On ‘bittersweet’ night, Neeraj hopes it is just the beginning for bigger throws

Awry smile, a shake of the head, and a side embrace with his fellow competitors. There wouldn't be a more muted, low-key celebration to any sporting accomplishment than this, let alone when an athlete joins an exclusive club that only a couple of dozen were a part of before Friday night.

- GNS News Agency, May 22

Indeed, Neeraj Chopra roared and raised his arms in the trademark fashion as he launched the javelin into Doha’s night sky. But that he always does. The difference this time — on this balmy evening with the temperature in the low 30s and very little wind — was that the spear flew and kept flying. By the time it returned to earth, crashing into the other end of the arena, the javelin had travelled the farthest Neeraj —or any other Indian, for that matter — had ever thrown — 90.23m.Three years after coming within 6cm of the 90m mark, Neeraj finally breached the barrier at the Doha leg of the Diamond League on Friday night. The landmark throw came on his third attempt, thus becoming only the 25th javelin thrower to cross the 90m-mark.When the scores flashed on the big screen and were announced in the stadium, Neeraj looked more relieved than happy. That Neeraj would finish in the top two of the Doha leg of the Diamond League was taken for granted. He's done that in every competition since the Tokyo Olympics. The only thing that mattered was if, in the new season, he'd offer something new — in other words, a throw that would cross 90m.With the proverbial monkey now off his back, at least he wouldn’t constantly be bombarded with that one question which has haunted him wherever he has gone, sometimes even threatening to overshadow everything else he'd achieved — an Olympic gold? ‘That's fine, but what about 90m?’ The World Championship