Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra, India's Olympic javelin throw champion is set to participate in the upcoming Diamond League Meet in Stockholm. The prestigious league which will begin on June 30 is the biggest event ahead of the World Championships in Eugene, USA, next month.
Chopra will come into the Swedish capital with confidence after clinching his first win of the season at the Kuortane Games in Finland on June 18, beating reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada for the second time this month.
The 24-year-old Chopra had won a silver in his first competition of the season at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 14 with a national record throw of 89.30m.
Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic and compatriot Tokyo Games bronze winner Vitezslav Vesely will also be in action. This will be the first time all the Tokyo Olympics medal winners will be in action together this season.
Vadlejch, who was sixth at Paavo Nurmi Games with a best throw of 83.91m, returns after skipping the Kuortane Games. The same is the case for Germany's Julian Weber, who returns after finishing fifth at Paavo Nurmi Games with 84.02m.
Finland's Oliver Helander, who surprisingly won gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games with a big throw of 89.83m, also returns after skipping Kuortane Games.
Ace German Johannes Vetter, the 2017 world champion and who has maximum throws beyond 90m among the active javelin throwers, continues to be on the sidelines due to injury.
Another Indian, Murali Sreeshankar will also compete in the meet but his long jump event is not included in the Diamond League program. It's listed as an additional event.
But the long jump field is a strong one with Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Tentoglou Miltiadis of Greece and World Indoor Championships silver winner Thobias Montler taking part.
Sreeshankar is also taking part in this event as a build-up for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games
(Inputs from PTI)
