Who is Rohit Yadav, who will fight for gold medal in men's javelin throw final with Neeraj Chopra at World Athletics Championships?

Rohit Yadav, who qualified for the men's javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships going on in Oregon, is India's second-best in the sport after Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra. Neeraj had already qualified for the final earlier with a throw of 88.39m. Rohit, who calls Neeraj a friend, has thrown over 80m eight times before making his World Championships debut on July 21 (Thursday). He ranks 28th in the world and it was only due to his ranking that he had qualified for the Worlds. Rohit belongs to Uttar Pradesh and is among the brightest talent in the sport in the country. He has gone over 80m mark on several occasions in the last 3 months. 

Follow LIVE blog of men's javelin throw qualifiers involving Neeraj Chopra and Rohit Yadav

In June 2022, Rohit clinched a silver with a personal best of 82.54m at the National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of Chennai. He also threw 82.45m, 82.07m and 80.49m in the event.

Rohit Yadav of #India __ throws 80.42 in his first attempt as he makes a great effort to join #NeerajChopra for the men's Javelin Throw final of #WorldAthleticsChamps

Keep it up @RohitJavelin

Automatic qualification is 83.50m@afiindia pic.twitter.com/Z95noLH1cF — Divesh Bhal (@diveshbhal) July 22, 2022

In April, the 20-year-old, threw an remarkable 81.83 to win the gold medal at the National Federation Cup at the Md Koya Stadium in Thenhipalam. Also, at th Indian Grand Prix, he threw 80.88m to clinch a silver in Bhubaneshwar in May. 

Not to forget, Rohit has already qualified for the Commonwealth Games 2022 to be held in Birmingham. His exploits in the World Championships will help him great deal at the CWG 2022. He is also looking for mentorship from his senior and Olympic champion Neeraj. Both of them posed together before the start of the World Athletics Championships and the picture went viral within seconds. 

Both of them will now compete against each other in the men's javelin throw final at the World Championships, which is to be held on July 23. The match will be live in India on the morning of July 24 though as Eugene where the event is taking place is 12 hours and 30 minutes behind India time. Indian fans will have to wake up early to catch the glimpse of the final.