Chopra enters as the defending champion, having etched his name in history at Budapest two years ago with a throw of 88.17m to become India’s first-ever world champion in athletics.
Photo: IANS
India’s javelin ace Neeraj Chopra will return to Tokyo’s National Stadium, the site of his historic Olympic gold in 2021 to chase another milestone at the 2025 World Athletics Championships on Wednesday.
Chopra enters as the defending champion, having etched his name in history at Budapest two years ago with a throw of 88.17m to become India’s first-ever world champion in athletics. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem had taken silver on that occasion with 87.82m.
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The rivalry between the two intensified at the Paris Olympics last year, where Nadeem struck back with a stunning 92.97m effort to clinch gold, leaving Chopra with silver after his best throw of 89.45m.
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Currently ranked World No. 2, Chopra will be gunning for his third World Championships medal, having previously bagged silver in Eugene in 2022.
Earlier this season, he finally broke the 90m barrier, registering a national record 90.23m at the Diamond League in Doha. That effort places him third on this year’s global list behind Germany’s Julian Weber and Brazil’s Luiz da Silva.
The men’s javelin competition is stacked, with three athletes already surpassing 90m this season and five others carrying past 90m credentials. A total of 37 throwers, split into two groups, will vie for 12 spots in Thursday’s final, with the automatic qualification mark set at 84.50m.
The 27-year-old Chopra will begin his campaign in Group A, while Nadeem features in Group B. India’s contingent also includes Sachin Yadav (Group A), and Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh (Group B).
Among the global challengers are season leader and Diamond League champion Julian Weber (91.51m), two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, 2012 Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, and Czech star Jakub Vadlejch, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist.
In women’s javelin, India’s charge will be led by Asian Games gold medallist Annu Rani, who has thrown a season-best of 62.59m. She faces a tough field led by reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan, Austria’s Victoria Hudson (world leader with 67.76m), and Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos (67.22m). The women’s qualifiers are slated for Friday, with the final on Saturday.
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