Neeraj Chopra, who capped his previous season with a gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, is hoping to defend his Olympic gold medal in Paris later this year.
Tokyo Olympics titleholder and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will begin his 2024 season at the Doha leg of the Diamond League series on May 10 in a star-studded field.
Chopra, 26, who capped her previous season with a gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, hopes to defend her Olympic gold medal in Paris later this year.
Chopra’s compatriot Kishore Jena, who finished fifth at the Budapest 2023 World Championships and won silver in Hangzhou, will make his Diamond League debut.
Others in the field will be well-known rivals of Chopra like Czech Jakub Vadlejch, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics and bronze at the 2023 World Championships, and former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.
“This year my personal goal is to defend my Olympic title, but it would also mean a lot to me to break the 90m barrier. The Doha Meeting, with good conditions and a good atmosphere, is a perfect opportunity to start my season on the best foot,” said Chopra, who achieved a personal best of 89.94m.
“I am always overwhelmed by the warm support I receive from Indians around the world and from Qatar, which is particularly special. I feel privileged that so many people have come to support me and I hope I can reward their belief in me with a good performance.
Chopra finished first in the 2023 Doha Diamond League with a throw of 88.67m, ahead of Vadlejch and Peters.
Chopra’s excellence has raised the bar for Indian athletes. “Last year, my dream was to win the World Championships, but to have three Indian athletes in the final – it shows that we are progressing as a nation,” he said.
The Doha event is the third meeting of the 2024 Diamond League series which includes 15 legs in total across four different continents, starting with Xiamen on April 20 and ending with a unique two-day finale in Brussels (13-14 september).
The first two Diamond League meets – in Xiamen and Shanghai – do not have the men’s javelin throw as a discipline.
