Doha: Celebrated Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will begin his Diamond League campaign here on Friday against a familiar but formidable field of rivals, eyeing a perfect start to the season in which he would be defending his world championship crown later this year.
At a venue where he will have sizeable crowd support thanks to expatriate Indians, Chopra will face two-time world champion and 2024 Olympics bronze winner Anderson Peters of Grenada, Jakub Vadlejch of Czechia, who won here in 2024, the German duo of Julian Weber and Max Dehning, Kenya’s Julius Yego and Roderick Genki Dean of Japan.
Almost all of them have been have been Chopra’s rivals at major competitions for a while now. A notable absentee is 2024 Paris Olympics gold-winner Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan.
Chopra’s compatriot Kishore Jena, who won a javelin silver medal at the Asian Games but is struggling of late, will also be one of the 11 competitors.
Jena (Personal Best: 87.54m) competed here in 2024 as well, finishing ninth with a throw of 76.31m.
Vadlejch won here with a best throw of 88.38m while Chopra was 2cm behind with 88.36m. Peters was third with 86.62m.
Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics and then a silver at the 2024 Paris Games, first competed in the Doha DL in 2018 when he finished fourth with a best throw of 87.43m.
After winning gold in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he took the title here in 2023 (88.67m) and finished second in 2024 (88.36m). He will be looking to regain the Doha DL title.
“I’m always overwhelmed by the support I get from the Indian people in Qatar - there aren’t enough words to thank them,” said the 27-year-old who is now coached by world record-holder and multiple-time Olympic champion Jan Zelezny of Czechia.
Chopra, who has a personal best of 89.94m, is looking to hit the 90m mark, something that Zelezny did for fun in his prime, with the best being a jaw-dropping 98.48m.
“I know the fans expect big things from me when I compete here - and with good conditions and a great atmosphere that’s definitely possible - but I pride myself on my consistency, which I believe is one of my greatest strengths. For me, that’s more important than just chasing a number.”
National record-holders Gulveer Singh and Parul Chaudhary are also competing in the men’s 5,000m and women’s 3,000m steeplechase events respectively, making this the country maximum representation ever in a DL event.