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India's javelin ace Neeraj Chopra has booked his place at the upcoming Commonwealth Games after comfortably breaching the qualification mark at the Doha Diamond League, marking his first competition of the 2026 season.
The 28-year-old, who had missed the last eight months due to a back injury, registered a foul throw on his first attempt. However, the former Olympic gold medallist dusted off the rust and soon found his groove on the third attempt, registering a throw of 85.69 metres to jump to third in the standings at the end of round three. The former World Number 1 followed it up with a throw of 83.45 metres in the fourth round and needed a throw in excess of 86 metres in the fifth round to remain in the top three and qualify for the final shootout. Unfortunately, as things panned out, Neeraj recorded another foul throw and dropped down to fourth to bring an end to his participation. Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage clinched the top spot with an impressive 88.68m throw, while Grenada's Anderson Peters finished second with 86.38m. American athlete Curtis Thompson secured third place overall with a best effort of 85.99m. The stadium also holds special significance for the Indian star, as it was here last year that he crossed the 90m mark for the first time, before being surpassed by Germany's Julian Weber, who registered a 91m throw. Ahead of the Doha Diamond League event, Neeraj said that the upcoming Commonwealth Games this year would be a tough competition, with several athletes having thrown 90 m or more. He also spoke on his historic 90 m throw at the same venue last year, saying that "technically, it was not that good". "All of them have thrown 90m, so the Commonwealth Games will not be less (competitive) than the Olympics or World Championships; it will be a really tough competition," Chopra said during the presser at Doha as quoted by Olympics.com. On his epic 90 m throw last year, Neeraj has some interesting thoughts, noting that he could have gone two to three metres further. "Technically, that throw was not that good. It was really fast from the arm, but if I had done better with my lower body, that may be two to three metres more," Chopra explained. (ANI)
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