Doha (Qatar): Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra started his 2023 season on Friday by winning the 10-man men's javelin field at the Doha Diamond League held at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium in the capital city of Qatar.

Chopra, who was the first Indian to win the Diamond Trophy last year, started the competition with an impressive throw of 88.67m, which was also his first attempt at the prestigious event.

The ace javelin thrower wasn’t happy with his throw. He hit 86.04m in his 2nd throw and 85.47m in the third throw. His fourth attempt was a foul. Chopra recovered with a throw of 84.37m in this fifth attempt and finished with 86.52m.

Neeraj's first throw was the best throw of the competition.

He could not cross the 90 m mark to get a new personal best throw, which is 89.94m came. He made the throw to finish second at the Stockholm Diamond League in June 2022.

Jakub Vadlejch, who won the silver medal in javelin at the Tokyo Olympics, threw several times over 85m and finished second with his best throw being 88.63m.

Anderson Peters, the reigning world champion who had thrown over 93m in Doha last year, came in third with his best effort being 85.88m.

Neeraj Chopra, the first Indian athlete to win the Diamond Trophy last year, entered the Doha Diamond League after his victory in the Diamond League finale in Zurich.

Chopra won the Diamond Trophy with an 88.44m throw after performing consistently during the season to qualify for the final.