While the expectation of Neeraj is to breach the 90m mark as soon as possible, it remains to be seen if the 23-year-old track and field star will like to peak early with the prestigious Stockholm Diamond League on 30 June.
File photo of Neeraj Chopra. AFP
After another successful start to the season that saw javelin star Neeraj Chopra improve his national record to 89.30 metre earlier this week for a silver medal in Paavo Nurmi Games, the Olympic Champion will be competing at the Kuortane Games 2022 in Kuortane, Finland on Saturday.
While the expectation of Neeraj is to breach the 90m mark as soon as possible, especially after coming so close four days ago, it remains to be seen if the 23-year-old track and field star will like to peak early with the prestigious Stockholm Diamond League on 30 June. Diamond Leagues, after all, have a bigger prize purse and are the third biggest competition behind Olympics/World Championships, and Diamond League final; in turn attract the best of athletes.
Saturday’s Kuorrtane Games, on the other hand, is a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver Meet under B category (ranked fifth in stature of competitions). Last Tuesday’s Paavo Nurmi Games were a Continental Tour Gold Meet and had the same ranking points as Asian Games or Commonwealth Games under category A.
Today’s event, starting at 9:15 PM IST, still won’t be a piece of cake for Neeraj as Paavo Nurmi Games gold medallist Oliver Helander, current World No. 1 Anderson Peters and 2012 Olympic Champion Keshorn Walcott have been named in the preliminary entry list.
Helander was a surprise winner last Tuesday when he stunned Neeraj for the top spot with his career-best throw of 89.83. Neeraj, however, showed more consistency than the Finn as his six throws on the day read 86.92m, 89.30, X (foul throw), X, X, 85.85. It will be interesting to see if Helander poses a threat again to his Indian rival as the 25-year-old Finnish had thrown over 86m just twice before Turku in the last two seasons.
Current season leader Anderson Peters (at 93.05m) settled for bronze medal in Turku with a 86.60m throw but remains among the favourites for the gold as a 90-plus throw came just 12 days ago at the prestigious FBK Games.
Same is true for Keshorn Walcott, who threw 89.07m at the FBK for a bronze medal before dropping his performance by a notch in Turku with a 84.02m throw for the fourth spot.
Among surprise entrees, also includes Indian para thrower Sandeep Chaudhury, who would be competing with Neeraj and other abled athletes at the event. The 25-year-old para javelin thrower, who won 2019 World Para Championship gold, has been training in Finland and won silver medal with a throw of 63.11m while competing with abled athletes at a local event last week.
To the disappointment of the Indian fans, the tournament will not be telecast Live in India.
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