A World Championships gold is the only medal missing from Neeraj Chopra’s decorated cabinet and the Indian javelin thrower will fancy his chances as no clear-cut favourite has emerged ahead of the event.
The 25-year-old 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 silver in last year’s World Championships in USA. If Chopra wins gold, he will become only the second Indian after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win both the Olympics and World Championships titles in individual sport.
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. Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who won silver behind Chopra in Tokyo and bronze in the 2022 World Championships, Germany’s Julian Weber and defending champion Anderson Peters would be among the gold medal contenders.
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 layoff of one month in between the two events after straining his muscles while training.