Top Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan's reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem are set for a high-profile rematch of their Paris Games javelin final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo later this month.
Chopra, the reigning world champion, is leading a 19-member Indian team in the September 13-21 showpiece, while Nadeem is the only athlete from Pakistan. Nadeem had beaten Chopra for gold at the Paris Games in August 2024 with a huge throw of 92.97m, an Olympic record.
Since then, the two rivals have not met each other on a javelin arena, but after more than a year, they are set to have a showdown in Tokyo in what will be a clash between Olympic and world champions.
The 27-year-old Chopra is a wild card entrant in the men's javelin event by virtue of being the defending champion. He has also thrown past the 85.50m direct qualifying mark many times during the qualifying period.
Nadeem, 28, breached the qualifying mark with his throw of 86.40m while winning gold in the Asian Championships in South Korea in May. Incidentally, that's the only event he has competed in after the Paris Olympics final. The Pakistani athlete underwent a calf muscle surgery in England in July.
The men's javelin qualifying round of the world championships will be held on September 17 and the final the next day. The rivals were to have a showdown at the Diamond League Meeting in Silesia, Poland, on August 16, but both pulled out of the event after the organisers initially confirmed their participation.
In fact, Nadeem did not compete in any four of this year's Diamond League meetings which had men's javelin in the roster, while Chopra competed in two and also finished second in the Diamond League Finals in Zurich on August 28.
Three other Indians, Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav, are also featuring in the event in Tokyo as India will have the most number of men's javelin throwers among competing countries. With the expected return of Nadeem, the men's javelin event in Tokyo will have the best of the lot in the business in action.
Diamond League Trophy winner Julian Weber of Germany will enter the event as favourite after three 90m-plus throws this year. He is also the world leader this season with his 91.51m while winning the Diamond League Trophy in Zurich. Chopra's 90.23m throw, his first 90m-plus effort in his career, while finishing second in the Doha Diamond League in May, is third in the season's top list.
Chopra's last event was in the Diamond League Finals in Zurich on August 28 when he had finished second to Weber with a mediocre throw of 85.01m. He had won titles this season in Paris Diamond League and Ostrava Golden Spike as well as in the NC Classic in Bengaluru.
In the last edition in 2023 also, four Indians had qualified, but Rohit was forced to pull out due to an injury. Chopra had won gold with a throw of 88.17m, while Kishore Jena and DP Manu had finished fifth and sixth as three Indians had reached men's javelin finals in a historic achievement.
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