Neeraj Chopra Congratulates Amit Khatri On Winning Silver In 10km Race Walk At World Athletics U20 Championships

Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Saturday congratulated India's race walker Amit Khatri after he won the silver medal at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi. The 17-year-old won the silver medal in men's 10,000m race walk at the World Athletics U20 Championships with a time of 42 minutes 17.94 seconds. "Congratulations Amit bhai for your wonderful performance!," Neeraj Chopra, who himself won gold in the U20 Championships in 2016, tweeted, responding to a post by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

"Keep giving great performances like this for the country," he added in Hindi.

Congratulations Amit bhai for your wonderful performance! performances https://t.co/1PKiOux9VK

- Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 21, 2021

Amit finished behind gold medal winner Heristone Wanyonyi of Kenya who clocked a time of 42:10.84. The Indian youngster had led the race for large parts before being overtaken by Wanyonyi in the penultimate lap. Spain's Paul McGrath took home the bronze medal with a time of 42:26.11.

"As it's a high altitude so breathing (was a) problem for me," Amit said after the race.

"It was my first international competition and (I) won silver for India. I'm happy with silver at least I could fulfil the hopes of India," he said, according to a tweet by AFI.

This was the first time that an Indian won a medal in race walking and also the first time that the country has won two medals in a single edition of the event.

The mixed 4x400m relay team had won the bronze medal earlier this week.

Neeraj Chopra recently made history as he won India's first Olympic gold medal in athletics at the recently-concluded Tokyo Games.

Chopra registered a best attempt of 87.58m to win the men's javelin throw final.