Neeraj warms up for big season ahead
Two-time Olympic medallist threw 84.52m in a meet in South Africa. He will compete in Doha Diamond League on May 16
New Delhi: Neeraj Chopra warmed up for the season, hurling the javelin to 84.52m at the Potch Invitational Meet in Potchefstroom, South Africa, on Wednesday.
The two-time Olympic medallist was easily the best in the six-man field and won the World Athletics meet by quite a distance. South African Douw Smit was the next best with a throw of 82.44m. Chopra looked in nice rhythm and control as he gently paced up on the runway, made a smooth transition to crossover steps and planted his left leg for the block and throw.
Nothing more should be read into Chopra’s first act of the season. His first big competition will be the Diamond League in Doha on May 16, where some of the world’s best javelin throwers are expected to turn up. The performance there will give an insight into Chopra’s training under his new coach Jan Zelezny.
Chopra has opened his last two seasons in Doha DL with impressive throws. His season-opening throws in 2023 and 2024 were 88.67m and 88.36m respectively.
This year, the big challenge for him will be to defend his world championships title in Tokyo. To go past the 90m barrier this season is another marker that Chopra would have set. At the Paris Olympics Chopra (89.45m) could not surpass Arshad Nadeem’s monstrous 92.97 and had to satisfy with being the second best -- a place he is not comfortable with.
One of the reasons to bring Zelezny, the three-time Olympic and world champion, on board is to fine tune his technique to add more distance to his throws. Nobody knows how to achieve 90-plus distances better than the legendary Czech. He has done it multiple times and his 98.48m achieved in 1996 still stands as the world record.
Chopra is training under Zelezny in Potchefstroom, and the competition on Wednesday would have helped them assess his fitness and training.
Under German coach Klaus Bartonietz, Chopra has been incredibly consistent in the 88-89 metre mark in the last three seasons. Last year he went past 89m three times, including twice in the Paris Olympics. In 2023, he achieved 88m four times. In 2022, Chopra got his personal best of 89.94m. With more throwers breaching the 90m mark, Chopra knows he needs to get into the elite club.
Asian U18 Athletics
India’s Shourya Ambure won bronze in the girls 100m hurdles with a personal best of 13.80s at the Asian U18 Athletics Championship in Saudi Arabia. China’s Bao Yinyin (13.71) and He Yihui (13.76) won gold and silver medals respectively.
In the girls discus throw, India’s Lakshita Mahlawat won bronze with a throw of 41.30m. China’s Ma Chenyi won gold (53.81m).
