Neeraj Chopra Stock Photo
India's two-time Olympic medallist in javelin throw Neeraj Chopra has qualified for this month's season finale of the prestigious Diamond League after finishing fourth in the overall standings at the end of the series' 14 competitions around the world. The season finale will be held on September 14 and 15 in Brussels. Chopra collected 14 points from his two second-place finishes in the one-day competitions held in Doha and Lausanne. He did not participate in the final competition of the series held on Thursday in Zurich.
The 26-year-old is two points behind Czech Jakub Vadlech. Granada's Anderson Peters and German star Julian Weber occupy the top two spots with 29 and 21 points respectively. Peters had overtaken Weber in the Zurich match.
Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and added a silver to her tally at the Paris edition last month, has been struggling with her fitness this season.
The Haryana lad has spoken about a groin injury that has been bothering him since before the Olympics and has come in the way of him reaching the 90m mark.
The Indian finished second in the diamond stage in Lausanne, beaten by Peters, who threw 90.61 metres. At the Paris Olympics, Pakistani Arshad Nadeem had taken gold with a spectacular throw of 92.97 metres.
“The first goal is to go to the doctor and get my groin 100 percent fit and also get better technically and try to throw far again,” he said last month about his plans for this year and next.
Chopra had won the Lausanne stage in 2022 and 2023 and finished second to Vadlejch in the finale in Eugene, USA, last year.
Each Diamond League season finale champion receives a prestigious “Diamond Trophy”, a cash prize of $30,000 and a wild card to the World Athletics Championships.
The DL final will mark the end of Chopra's season.
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