Neeraj Chopra | Pakistan

Neeraj Chopra does not usually worry about distance as long as he gets on the podium but the poster boy of Indian athletics knows he may have to throw beyond the 90 metres mark if he is to defend his javelin world title in Tokyo this month. A mop-haired Chopra became India’s first track-and-field athlete to win Olympic gold in the Japanese capital four years ago, and has since added a Diamond League trophy, world championships gold and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Games. In November last year, the 27-year-old brought in three-time Olympic champion Jan Zelezny as his coach in a bid to throw even farther. Six months into the partnership, Chopra registered a personal best of 90.23m in Doha earlier this year. But the Indian has fallen well short of 90m in his last five outings and threw a modest 85.01m in the Diamond League Final in Zurich last week, finishing a distant second behind German Julian Weber’s monster throw of 91.51m. While a string of high 80m throws have kept him in the top two in each of his la...

Pakistan’s Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem and India’s Neeraj Chopra are set to lock horns next month at the Diamond League event in Silesia, Poland, in their first head-to-head contest since the Paris Olympics, it emerged on Saturday. The match-up comes amid heightened political tensions between Pakistan and India, which have spilt over into the world of sports. A press release from the Diamond League, issued on July 9, announced the athletes taking part in the upcoming competition in Poland, including Kenyan middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon. The contest between Nadeem and Chopra was described as “the first opportunity for revenge after the Paris Olympics”. “The Pakistani’s form remains something of a mystery, as he rarely appears on the European circuit,” the press release read. “The exception he will make on August 16 results from his desire to face Chopra.” The press release noted that Chopra threw 90 metres this spring, adding that he is “yearning for more”. Last week, Chopra headlined the ‘N...