Two-time Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra expressed happiness with his comeback at the Doha Diamond League. Despite a fourth-place finish, he was satisfied with his 85.69m throw after a nine-month injury layoff and is optimistic for future events.
India's two-time Olympic medalist and former world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra expressed happiness with his comeback performance at Doha Diamond League despite his fourth-place finish, saying that it was great to have achieved a very good throw after being away from competition due to an injury lay-off and expressed optimism that with further refinement to his technique, the performances will be even better later this year.
Neeraj, who was honoured with the 'Best Male Athlete of the Year 2025' at the inaugural Athletics Federation of India (AFI) awards in New Delhi on Saturday, made a comeback after a nine-month layoff during the Doha Diamond League yesterday, with a best throw of 85.69 metres, which helped him achieve the fourth position.
Before this, he had competed in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September, where he failed to defend his world title, finishing eighth with a modest throw of 84.03 metres and was outshone by fourth-placed Sachin Yadav. View this post on Instagram A post shared by RF Youth Sports (@rfyouthsports) However, speaking on his comeback, Neeraj sounded really optimistic despite missing out on the podium finish, expressing his satisfaction at having crossed the 85 m mark after so long staying away from the game due to injuries.
He said, "Definitely, I have returned after a long time now, and it has been a return with a very good throw. And I was just saying that, being realistic, you cannot always maintain that same level of performance. I am quite happy that I achieved over 85 meters in the very first competition after so long."
Looking Ahead to a Packed Season
Neeraj also revealed that the decision to compete at the Doha Diamond League, where he crossed the 90 m mark with a throw of 90.23 m under the coaching of Jan Zelezny last year, was made just a week back. Initially, Neeraj was not even advertised for the event, with his name missing from the list of competitors. "Still, it went quite well, and that is it, for the future now... this is just the start. There are competitions ahead, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games at the end of the year, and Diamond Leagues in between. So we hope that by then we will refine our technique further and the performance will be even better," he signed off.
A Recap of Last Year's Sensational Season
Other than the Tokyo setback, Neeraj enjoyed a sensational season last year. Chopra took the top honours in the inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic, a competition named after him at Sri Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium in Bengaluru in July. Then-reigning javelin throw champion stood triumphant with 86.18m.
Neeraj kickstarted the season with a win at the Potch Invitational in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in April and followed it up with a very special second-place finish at Doha Diamond League in May, where he crossed the 90-metre mark for the first time ever, with a throw of 90.23 m. He also went on to secure a second spot in the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland later that month and resumed his winning ways with back-to-back titles at Paris Diamond League and Ostrava Golden Spike, with best efforts of 88.16 m and 85.29 m.
In late August, Chopra's streak of top two finishes at events continued as he secured the second spot with the best throw of 85.01 m during the Diamond League final in Zurich. (ANI)
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