New Delhi: Neeraj Chopra eyes to become only the third male javelin thrower to defend his World Championships crown in Tokyo from Wednesday at the same arena he won his Olympics gold medal in 2021.
His campaign begins with the qualification round in a strong field that has Paris Olympics gold medallist Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who is expected to be a contender for the gold medal.
Chopra’s Czech coach Jan Zelezny (1993, 1995) and Grenada’s Anderson Peters (2019, 2022) remain the only two javelin throwers to have won gold at the athletics Worlds.
In between his Tokyo Olympics gold and Paris Games silver, Chopra won the Budapest edition of the top event in 2023.
As Chopra and Nadeem are placed in different qualifying groups, their showdown could only happen in the final round on Thursday.
Apart from the India-Pakistan rivalry, Peters, Julan Weber, 2015 world champion Julius Yego, 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic and Brazil’s Luiz da Silva all would fancy their chances of topping the podium.
Four Indians
It would also be the first time that four Indians, including Chopra will compete in the javelin discipline, the most among all competing countries in the event.
Being the defending champion, Chopra received a wildcard while Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav qualified through world rankings.
Chopra, Sachin are drawn with Weber, Walcott and Vadlejch in the 19-man qualification Group A, while Rohit, Yashvir, Nadeem, Paters are among the test 18 competitors in Group B.
The automatic qualifying mark for the final round is set at 84.50m. Those who make the cut or the best 12 will enter the final round.
The 27-year-old Chopra threw 88.17m to win gold at Budapest, with Nadeem (87.82m) and Vadlejch (86.67m) claiming silver and bronze respectively.
At Paris 2024, Nadeem bested Chopra with a 92.97m throw compared to the Indian’s effort of 89.45m.
Chopra has managed to touch the 90-m mark only once so far, with a 90.23m throw at the Doha Diamond League in May.
His second best effort has been 88.16m whereas 31-year-old German Weber has thrown 90m-plus distances three times this year, making him the front runner at Tokyo Worlds.