Neeraj Chopra to start out season at Doha Diamond League on Might 5

Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra.
| Photograph Credit score: ANI

Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will start his season on the Diamond League assembly in Doha on Might 5, as one of many high attracts in a star-studded subject.

The 25-year-old Chopra, the reigning Diamond League champion after successful the grand finale in September final, will be a part of world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic within the first meet of the 14-leg one-day sequence of the season.

Chopra, who has a private better of 89.94m which he achieved whereas ending second finally yr’s Stockholm Diamond League assembly, is at present coaching in Turkiye. He will likely be there until Might 31.

Because of an damage, the Indian famous person missed the 2022 Doha Diamond League Assembly the place Peters despatched the spear to 93.07m, the fifth-longest throw in historical past, to win the title. World Championships bronze medallist Vadlejch had completed second with a private finest throw of 90.88m.

Alongside the adorned trio, the Doha Assembly will even see European champion Julian Weber of Germany, the Olympic and world fourth-place finisher with a better of 89.54m, former Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott (PB: 90.16m) of Trinidad & Tobago, former world champion and 2016 Olympic silver medallist Julius Yego (PB: 92.72m) of Kenya.

One of many targets for Chopra, the primary Indian Olympic gold medallist in observe and subject, this yr will likely be to cross the 90m mark, the gold customary on the planet of javelin.

“I’m also getting closer to the 90m mark, so it would mean a lot for me to break that barrier,” he stated.

“Whereas final yr was a great yr for me with a brand new private finest, world silver medal, and the win of the Wanda Diamond League, this yr brings new alternatives. My purpose for this summer season is the World Championships, alongside the Asian Video games and the defence of my Wanda Diamond League title.” After scripting history at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Chopra won a silver in the 2022 World Championships in USA, where Peters won gold, but failed to defend the Commonwealth Games gold, he had won in 2018, at the Birmingham edition last year due to an injury.

He, however, recovered on time from the injury — which he had sustained during the World Championships — to win the Diamond League Finals in Switzerland.

“I am at all times overwhelmed by the nice and cozy assist I get from Indians the world over and in Qatar that’s significantly particular, so I am wanting ahead to opening my 2023 Wanda Diamond League season in Doha alongside a bunch of unimaginable athletes, in entrance of a passionate crowd.” The 2023 Diamond League includes 14 conferences, beginning with Doha on the Qatar Sports activities Membership on Might 5 and concluding with a single ultimate throughout two days in Eugene, USA (September 16-17).