In a significant achievement for Indian athletics, DP Manu secured the gold medal in the men's javelin throw event at the Taiwan Open 2024, held in Taipei on Saturday.
Manu, an Asian Athletics Championship silver medallist, recorded a throw of 81.58 meters on his final attempt to claim the top spot.
The Taiwan Open is a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level meet, offering crucial ranking points for the athletes.
Manu, 24, commenced his competition with a throw of 78.32 meters, followed by 76.80 meters on his second attempt. Demonstrating remarkable improvement, he threw 80.59 meters in his third attempt and 81.52 meters in his fifth.
Despite not registering a valid attempt in his fourth throw, Manu concluded the event with his best effort in the final round.
While this performance was commendable, it fell short of Manu's personal best of 84.35 meters and his season-best effort of 82.06 meters, which he achieved last month at the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar, finishing second behind Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.
Manu, who placed sixth at the World Championships last year, is still striving to qualify for the Paris Olympics, where the qualification mark is set at 85.50 meters. Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena have already met the Olympic qualification standards.
In other events at the Taiwan Open, Nithya Ramraj finished second in the women's 100m hurdles, clocking 13.23 seconds.
She had earlier set a personal best of 13.12 seconds during the heats.
In the women's 400m final, VK Vismaya secured the third spot with a time of 53.49 seconds. Federation Cup winner Rosy Meena placed sixth in the women's pole vault, clearing 3.75 meters.
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