5 min readSep 11, 2026 09:04 PM IST
Nirbhay Choudhary. (Special arrangement)Away from the cheers and clapping at the Indian Athletics Series Final on the main track of JLN Stadium, 21-year-old Nirbhay Choudhary silently bettered the national record in men’s hammer throw with a mark of 71.02m.
With his throw, he erased the previous national record of 70.73m held by Neeraj Kumar from 2016.
The Asian Games-bound Damneet Singh and Praveen Kumar were also competing but it was the self-taught thrower from Delhi who became the first Indian to cross 71m legally.
Earlier, former India hammer thrower Kamalpreet Singh had recorded 72.86m in the USA but it was never ratified due to lack of dope control.
Pritish Raj works with sports team at The Indian Express' and is based out of New Delhi.
