Neeraj Chopra to lead India at World Championships in Tokyo

India will have the most number of men’s javelin throwers among competing countries in next month’s World Championships in Tokyo, with Neeraj Chopra leading the pack of four, in a remarkable reflection of the ‘revolution’ brought by the two-time Olympic medallist’s exploits at the global stage.

Besides Chopra, three other rising javelin throwers—Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav—were also picked for the men’s javelin event as India named a 19-member team for the September 13-21 showpiece.

Rohit, who was not initially in the 36-athlete bracket to compete in men’s javelin throw in Tokyo, got the invite from World Athletics after the withdrawal of competitors above him in the world rankings.

In the last edition in 2023 also, four Indians had qualified but Rohit was forced to pull out due to an injury. Chopra had won gold in Budapest in Hungary in 2023 while Kishore Jena and DP Manu had finished fifth and sixth as three Indians had reached men’s javelin finals in a historic achievement.

This is the first time four Indians will be competing in an event in the World Championships. Chopra qualified for the World Championships as a wild card entrant by virtue of being the defending champion, which itself paved the way for another three Indians joining him.

A country is allowed to have maximum three participants per event but the number can be four if one athlete makes the grade as a wild card entrant.

Chopra also breached the 85.50m direct qualifying mark while the other three Indians made the grade through world ranking.

“I am particularly pleased that we have four men’s javelin throwers who have qualified. We are hoping that this time also, they will all be in the finals,” Athletics Federation of India (AFI) spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla said at a virtual media interaction.

“Last time also, there were four but Rohit Yadav was injured and could not participate. And we had all of them in the finals, in the top six.”       Three athletes each have qualified in men’s javelin throw from powerhouses Germany and Finland as well as Poland. Two athletes each have qualified from the Czech Republic and Asian countries Japan and Sri Lanka.

AFI names 19-member team; Shirse and Sandeep last-minute inclusions

Meanwhile, the overall Indian team of 19 has five women with Rohit, men’s 110m hurdler Tejas Shirse and men’s 35km race walker Sandeep Kumar being the last-minute inclusions after they got invites from World Athletics due to the pulling out of other competitors who were above them in world rankings in their respective events.

An athlete can automatically qualify for the World Championships by breaching the qualification mark. The remaining slots are handed through world ranking quota so as to complete the required entry numbers per event pre-determined by World Athletics.

Member countries then inform the world body about any withdrawal of their athletes despite making the cut and the vacant slots thus created are filled up by those next in world ranking.

The deadline for qualification for most events was August 24.

India had sent 28 athletes in the last edition in Hungary in 2023 with seven relay racers in the squad. This time, the country did not qualify for any relay event.

Just like in 2023, no other Indian except for Chopra has any real chance to stand on the podium this time also.

Men’s 20km race walker Akshdeep Singh was not named despite qualifying through world ranking as he is not medically fit while heptathlete Nandini Agasara, who also made the cut by virtue of being Asian champion, is yet to fully recover from her elbow injury, as reported by PTI earlier.

Star 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable qualified by breaching the automatic qualification mark but will miss the showpiece as he underwent an ACL surgery in July.

“Sable, Akshdeep and Nandini are not in the team as they are not medically fit,” Sumariwalla said.

Gulveer, who directly qualified in men’s 5,000m after breaching the qualifying mark, also made it to the 10,000m event through invitation.

Pooja is the second Indian who is competing in two events after she also got invite for women’s 800m after she had already made the cut in 1500m through world ranking.

Sreeshankar, who missed the 2024 Olympics due to a knee surgery despite qualifying, made it to the list of 36 long jumpers who are to compete in Tokyo, taking the last spot.

After returning to action in July, Sreeshankar has won five competitions on the trot with his best being 8.13m while winning gold at the World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level event in Bhubaneswar on August 10. He, though, failed to breach the automatic qualification mark of 8.27m.

Odisha’s national record holder Animesh Kujur is set to be the first Indian to compete in 200m in the World Championships.

Indian team:

Men: Neeraj Chopra, Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav (men’s javelin), Murali Sreeshankar (men’s long jump), Gulveer Singh (men’s 5,000m and 10,000m), Praveen Chithravel and Abdulla Aboobacker (men’s triple jump), Sarvesh Anil Kushare (men’s high jump), Animesh Kujur (men’s 200m), Tejas Shirse (men’s 110m hurdles), Servin Sebastian (men’s 20km race walk), Ram Baboo and Sandeep Kumar (men’s 35km race walk).

Women: Parul Chaudhary and Ankita Dhyani (women’s 3000m steeplechase), Annu Rani (women’s javelin), Priyanka Goswami (women’s 35km race walk), Pooja (women’s 800m and 1500m).