TOKYO: Defending champion Neeraj Chopra endured a nightmarish outing at the World Championships' men's javelin throw finals to end a disappointing eighth, outperformed by debutant compatriot Sachin Yadav who logged a personal best performance to finish a creditable fourth here on Thursday.
On a day when no thrower managed to cross 90m, Chopra was ousted after the fifth and penultimate round with a best effort of 84.03m that left him eighth overall.
The 27-year-old fouled the fifth attempt to exit the competition at the same venue where he won a history-making Olympic gold back in 2021.
Only the top six athletes compete in the sixth and final round and it was surprisingly Yadav who ended up being India's representative.
His best throw of 86.27m, which came in the very first attempt, was a personal best performance and he bested not just Chopra but also German star Julian Weber (86.11m), and Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (82.75m) among others.
The gold went Keshorn Walcott (88.16m) of Trinidad and Tobago, followed Grenada's Anderson Peters (87.38m) and Curtis Thompson (86.67m).
Nadeem, a silver-medallist in the previous edition, was among the first set of throwers to exit in the fourth round.
Chopra, a two-time Olympic medallist, began with 83.65m which put him at fifth place and improved upon it with 84.03m before fouling his third throw.
He dropped to eighth after the second round and remained there at the halfway stage.
His fourth throw measured 82.86m, which meant that he had to better 85.54m and Kenya's Julius Yego in his fifth throw to remain in competition.
But Chopra fouled his fifth attempt to end the day in disappointment.
After releasing his spear, he fell down sideways and crossed the curved line to see the red flag from the official.
He removed his waist belt and buried his face in it for a while before regaining composure.
Known for his consistency, it was inexplicable for Chopra not to even cross the 85m mark in five attempts.
Before Thursday, his worst was 82.27m while winning gold at the Federation Cup in May 2024.
He had breached the 90m mark with a 90.23m throw in the Doha Diamond League in May under the tutelage of the legendary Jan Zelezny but since then his graph has seen a dip.