In the backdrop of an Olympic Games gone awry for India, champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra begins his campaign with the qualification round at the Stade de France on Tuesday.
He is expected to make Thursday’s final.
Neeraj has shown remarkable consistency since the gold medal win in Tokyo three years back, winning the World Championships, Asian Games and the Diamond League.
This season, an adductor muscle injury is bothering the superstar and it remains to be seen how it holds up for Neeraj. Team Neeraj though brushed away any injury concerns saying everything was fine and that he was raring to go.
Placed in Group B — the two groups have 16 throwers each — the World No. 2 Indian has Germany’s Max Dehning, Grenada’s Anderson Peters and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem for company. The other Indian in the fray, Kishore Jena is in Group A. World
No. 1 Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, German world No. 3 Julian Weber and fourth-ranked Oliver Helander of Finland are also in the same group.
Athletes achieving the qualifying mark of 84.00m will make the final. If the number of athletes who achieve that mark is fewer than 12, the next highest-ranked athletes, up to a total of at least 12, will be included in the final. Should more than 12 athletes achieve the standard, all will progress to the final round.
Neeraj has a season’s best of 88.36 in 2024. A top podium finish will make Neeraj only the fifth athlete in the Games history to defend his title and the first Indian to win
two gold medals in an individual event in the multi-sporting spectacle.
After finishing second in the Doha Diamond League in May with a throw of 88.36m, the 26-year-old withdrew from Ostrava Golden Spike on May 28 as a precautionary measure after he felt “something” in his adductor.
Neeraj, who has a personal best of 89.94m, made a strong comeback by winning gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland on June 18 with a throw of 85.97m.