India’s star javelin throw player Neeraj Chopra will be the only expectation of medals for India at the World Athletics Championship starting on Saturday, he will try to become the third male spear player who has done such a feat in the history of the world championship by winning two consecutive gold medals with the country’s expectations.
Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal with a distance of 88.17 meters in the session held at Budapest in 2023, while Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem (87.82 meters) won silver and Jacob Wades (86.67 meters) of the Czech Republic (86.67 meters). If Chopra wins gold again in the final on September 18, he will become the only third player to win gold medals in a javelin throw in two consecutive world championships.
This achievement has so far been achieved by Yan Jeshani (1993 and 1995) and Anderson Peters (2019 and 2022) of Grenada (2019 and 2022). Jeanla is currently the coach of Chopra. Chopra is leading the 19 -member Indian team and is the only medal candidate. He will face Arshad Nadeem after more than a year. The previous collision between the two players took place at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Chopra finished second.
Neeraj Chopra will also have a chance to pay the Paris Olympics. It will not be easy for this 27 -year -old Indian player to win gold. Apart from Arshad Nadeem, he will also have a tough challenge of Julian Weber (Germany), who became Diamond League Champion recently. Apart from this, Anderson Peters, Kenya’s 2015 world champion Julius Yigo, 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Volcot (Trinidad and Tobago), experienced Wades, and Luiz Dr. Silva of Brazil will also challenge.
Dr. Silva crossed the 90 meter mark with a 91 meter throw last month. The match will be held in the same ground in Tokyo, where he created history by winning the Olympic gold in 2021. The qualifying round of the male javelin throw will be held on 17 September. Among these players, Weber’s rhythm is the best and he will be the biggest contender for the title. This 31 -year -old has achieved a distance of more than 90 meters three times in this session. He tops the current session with 91.51 meters.
He has also gained confidence by winning the Diamond League Trophy last month. Chopra also crossed the 90 meter mark for the first time in Doha Diamond League earlier this year, but her performance has been average throughout the year. In two competitions, he could not cross the 85 -meter mark, while in two, only a little up. In a competition, he threw more than 86 meters. His second best performance this year was 88.16 meters.
Chopra is 1-3 behind in a face-to-face match against Weber in this session. The previous match between the two took place in the Diamond League final in August, where Chopra could throw only 85.01 meters and finished second. Along with Chopra, Sachin Yadav, Yashveer Singh and Rohit Yadav are also representing India in this event. There are four players from India in the men’s javelin throw competition, the highest from any other country.
Being a defending champion, Neeraj Chopra has received a wild card while the remaining three athletes have qualified on the basis of world rankings. Earlier, three Indian athletes reached the finals in the competition held in Budapest in 2023. Chopra won the gold while Kishore Jena and DP Manu finished fifth and sixth respectively.
In addition to men’s javelin throw athletes, Annu Rani (female spear throw), Parul Chaudhary (female 3000 m steeplechase), Murali Srishankar (male long jump), Gulbir Singh (men’s 5000m) and Praveen Chitravel (Purush Trikud) will also try to reach the final stage. The most experienced 33 -year -old Annu Rani is participating in the World Championship for the fifth time. He had earlier participated in it in 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023. She reached the final stages in 2019 and 2022, while the remaining twice was out in the qualification round.
After average performance in 2024, he is in good rhythm this year and has the best 62.59 meters. She will try to improve her best seventh place achieved in 2022. Srishankar, who is making a comeback after a long time from the injury, has made it to the World Championship at the last minute. He has won the five events in which he has participated in after the return. However, he will have to improve his best performance of 8.05 meters to win a medal.
National record holder Furrata Runner Animesh Kujur will be the first Indian to participate in the men’s 200 meter race in a World Championship, but how much he moves, it remains to be seen. The same situation will happen in the men’s 110 meter hurdles with the national record holder Tejas Shirsa. The Indian contingent campaign will begin on Saturday with 35 km of women’s walking events. Ram Babu and Sandeep Kumar will participate in the men’s 35 km walk, while Priyanka Goswami will participate in this event of women. In the evening session, Pooja will run in her heat of the 1500 meter race.