A World Championships gold is the only medal missing in Neeraj Chopra’s decorated cabinet and the superstar Indian javelin thrower will fancy his chances as no clear-cut favourite has emerged ahead of the showpiece beginning on Saturday. The 25-year-old Chopra has won gold medals in Olympics (Tokyo in 2021), Asian Games (2018) and Commonwealth Games (2018), besides becoming the Diamond League champion last year.
He won a silver in the 2022 World Championships in USA and he would be one of the gold medal contenders this time here. If Chopra wins a gold, he will become only the second Indian after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win a gold medal, both in the Olympics and World Championships in individual sport. Bindra, the first Indian individual event Olympic gold winner in 2008, had also achieved a World Championships top podium finish in 10m air rifle in 2006 in Zagreb. Going by the current form of the top javelin throwers, there is no hot favourite to stand on the top of the podium after the August 27 final. The qualification round will be held two days earlier. Chopra competed in only two top class competitions this season, winning gold in both of them — Doha and Lausanne Diamond League Meetings on May 5 and June 30 respectively. He had an injury lay-off of one month in between the two events after straining his muscles while training.
With nearly two months of rest and training, Chopra said he’s ready for the big event, which is of identical stature as the Olympics. “Competing and being consistent at the highest level against the world’s best athletes is definitely challenging. I want to give it my best, and if that happens, I will come back better than before,” said Chopra ahead of the showpiece. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who won silver behind Chopra in Tokyo and bronze in 2022 World Championships, Germany’s Julian Weber and defending champion Anderson Peters, would be among the gold medal contenders. Chopra’s winning throw of 88.67m in Lausanne puts him third on the world list but he enters the World Championships with an unbeaten record. He has also beaten the trio of his rivals — Vadlejch, Weber and Peters — in both Doha and Lausanne. DP Manu and Kishore Jena are the other two Indians in the fray in men’s javelin throw. Jena’s visa was cancelled by the Hungarian embassy in New Delhi on Thursday but he got clearance on Friday. In other events featuring Indians, a medal from men’s long jump cannot be ruled out altogether as Jeswin Aldrin (8.42m) and Murali Sreeshankar (8.41m) lead the world list this season. In men’s 3000m steeplechase, national record holder Avinash Sable will be hoping for a top class performance in a field studded with star performers. Sable will be in action on Saturday in the heats. Olympic and defending world champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco is expected to fight it out with Girma for the gold with his personal best of 7:56.68 at the Rabat Diamond League, the second fastest time this year. India’s campaign will start with three men’s 20km race walkers — Akashdeep Singh, Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh — on Saturday, but they are not expected to be in the medal bracket. The opening day will also see Shaili Singh competing in women’s long jump, Ajay Kumar Saroj in men’s 1500m heats and men’s triple jump qualification round where three Indians — Praveen Chithravel, Abdulla Aboobacker and Eldhose Paul — will be competing.
