TOKYO :Neeraj Chopra's return to the site of his Olympic triumph turned into a painful reality check on Thursday as he finished a dismal eighth in the men's javelin at the world championships in Tokyo after secretly battling a back injury for weeks.

Competing in the same arena where he claimed India's first Olympic athletics gold in 2021, Chopra could only muster a best throw of 84.03 metres on Thursday - worse than his qualifying mark from the previous day.

Trinidad and Tobago's Keshorn Walcott clinched his first global title since he claimed Olympic gold as a teenager in 2012 with a throw of 88.16 metres while Grenada's Anderson Peters and American Curtis Thompson completed the podium.

"I don't understand what happened today. This has not happened for a long time. I had some problems

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