World C'ships: Neeraj Chopra begins title defence with qualifying round

Indian javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra will begin his World Championship title defence with the qualification round here on Wednesday, taking on a blockbuster field that also features Olympic gold-winning Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan and Diamond League champion Julian Weber of Germany.

Chopra will aim to become the third male javelin thrower in history to defend the World Championships gold he had won in 2023 edition in Budapest.

Czech legend Jan Zelezny (1993, 1995), who is now Chopra's coach, and Anderson Peters (2019, 2022) of Grenada are the other two who have won the world championships crown on two consecutive occasions.

Chopra is set to face Nadeem for the first time after the 2024 Paris Olympics, giving him a chance to avenge his second-place finish in the French capital. Nadeem had won gold in Paris with a monster throw of 92.97m while Chopra had a best of 89.45m that night.

The Chopra-Nadeem clash will, however, not happen on Wednesday as the two rivals have been placed in two different groups in the qualifying round. They are expected to clash in the final round on Thursday.

Weber, Peters, Kenya's 2015 world champion Julius Yego, 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, veteran Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic as well as Brazil's Luiz da Silva, another 90m thrower, make up the rest of the starry field.

It would be a historic competition for India as Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav will join Neeraj on the field, the biggest number among competing countries in the event.

Chopra has been handed a wild card as defending champion while the other three made the cut through world rankings.

Chopra has been clubbed with Weber, Walcott, Vadlejch and Sachin in the 19-man Group A qualification round on Wednesday, while the 18-strong Group B will have Nadeem, Peters, Yego, Da Silva, Rohit, Yashvir, and rising Sri Lankan Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage among others.

Those who reach automatic qualifying mark of 84.50m or the best 12 will make it to the final round to be held on Thursday.

In the last edition in Budapest, Chopra had thrown 88.17m to win the gold, while Nadeem (87.82m) and Vadlejch (86.67m) had pocketed silver and bronze, respectively.

It will not be easy for the 27-year-old Chopra to nail the gold in Tokyo — though it's the same arena where he won the Olympic gold to script history in 2021.

Chopra breached the coveted 90m mark with a 90.23m throw at the Doha Diamond League in May but the year has also seen the Indian superstar logging some mediocre distances.

He had failed to breach 85m in two competitions, went past a little over 85m on two occasions, and had 86m-plus effort in another event. His second best throw this year was 88.16m.

On form, Weber will start as favourite as he has been the most consistent this season. The 31-year-old German has sent the spear to 90m-plus distances three times this year.

He is the world leader with 91.51m and his confidence is high after winning the Diamond League trophy last month.

In head-to-head against Weber this season, Chopra trailed 1-3, the last meeting being last month's Diamond League Final where the Indian could only come up with an 85.01m for a second-place finish.

Nadeem, 28, has come into the World Championships after participating in just one event the whole season.

He won gold with a throw of 86.40m at the Asian Championships in South Korea in May, and that effort booked his place in the global showpiece. He then underwent a calf muscle surgery in England in July.

In fact, the Asian Championships in Korea was the lone event he participated in after winning gold in Paris Olympics.

Nadeem may be short on competitive outings ahead of the World Championships but he is capable of producing a winning throw as he had done in Paris Games last year.

Before Paris Olympics too, he had participated in just one event in the whole of 2024.

Men's javelin is one competition which the Indian athletics fans will be following the most, after the impressive show in the last edition.

Three Indians had made it to the final round in 2023 in Budapest. Besides Chopra's gold, Kishore Jena and DP Manu had finished fifth and sixth respectively.