New Delhi: India's D P Manu clinched the gold medal in men's javelin throw at the Taiwan Open 2024 with an effort of 81.58m in Taipei on Saturday.
The Asian Athletics Championships silver medallist registered his best throw in his last attempt. Taiwan Open is is a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze-level meet and awards crucial ranking points.
Manu started with an 78.32m throw, while his second attempt measured 76.8m. But the 24-year-old improved his efforts sending the spear to 80.59m and 81.52m in his third and fifth attempts. He could not register a valid attempt in his fourth throw but finished strong.
The performance was, however, far from Manu's personal best of 84.35m. It was also less than his season-best effort of 82.06, which had come last month at the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar when he had finished second behind Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.
Manu, who finished sixth at the World Championships last year, has yet to make it the Paris Olympics, the qualification mark for which is of 85.5m. Chopra and Kishore Jena have already qualified for the Olympics.
