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IMAGE: Neeraj Chopra is at present coaching in Turkey. {Photograph}: Marco M. Mantovani/Getty Photographs
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 area.
The 25-year-old Chopra, the reigning Diamond League champion after profitable the grand finale in September final, will be 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 collection of the season.
Chopra, who has a private better of 89.94m which he achieved whereas ending second eventually 12 months’s Stockholm Diamond League assembly, is at present coaching in Turkey. He can be there until Might 31.
Attributable to 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 can 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 area, this 12 months can be to cross the 90m mark, the gold normal on the planet of javelin.
“I am additionally getting nearer to the 90m mark, so it could imply lots for me to interrupt that barrier,” he mentioned.
“Whereas final 12 months was 12 months for me with a brand new private finest, world silver medal, and the win of the Wanda Diamond League, this 12 months brings new alternatives. My aim for this summer time is the World Championships, alongside the Asian Video games and the defence of my Wanda Diamond League title.”
After scripting historical past on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Chopra gained a silver within the 2022 World Championships in USA, the place Peters gained gold, however didn’t defend the Commonwealth Video games gold, he had gained in 2018, on the Birmingham version final 12 months on account of an damage.
He, nevertheless, recovered on time from the damage — which he had sustained in the course of the World Championships — to win the Diamond League Finals in Switzerland.
“I am all the time overwhelmed by the nice and cozy help 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 gaggle of unbelievable athletes, in entrance of a passionate crowd.”
The 2023 Diamond League contains 14 conferences, beginning with Doha on the Qatar Sports activities Membership on Might 5 and concluding with a single last throughout two days in Eugene, USA (September 16-17).
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