India's javelin throw spearhead Neeraj Chopra has sealed his berth in the upcoming season finale of Diamond League after finishing fourth in the overall standings at the end of its 14 series meetings across the world. (More Sports News)
The season finale will be a two-day affair on September 13 and 14 in Brussels. The two-time Olympic medal-winning Chopra aggregated 14 points from his two second-place finishes in the one-day meets held in Doha and Lausanne. He skipped the last series meet in Zur💯ich on Thursday.
The 26-year-old is two points behind Czechia's Jakub Vadlejch. Grenada's Anderson Peters and German star Julian W🐠eber hold the top two spots with 29 and 21 points respectively. Peter🅠s had edged out Weber in the Zurich meet.
Chopra, who won gold in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and add♏ed a silver to his kitty in the Paris edition in August 2024, has been grappling with his fitness this season.
The man𒅌 from Jhajjar, Haryana has spoken about a groin injury troubling him since before the Olympic Games that has come in the way of his aim to cross the 90m mark.
The Indian finished second in the Lausanne Diamond Leg, topped by Peters, who threw 90.61m. In the Paris Olympics, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem had taken the gold with an epic throw of 92.97m.
"First goal, go to the doctor and make my groin 100 pe♌r cent fit and also I will be technically better and try to throw far again," he had said last month about his p🦹lans for this year and the coming one.
Chopra had won the Lausanne leg in 2022 📖and 2023 and finished second behind Vadlejch in the winner-takes-all finale in Eugene, USA, last year.
Each Diam🎀ond League season finale champion is awarded a coveted 'Diamond Trophy', 30,000 US dollars in prize money and a wild c🏅ard for the World Athletics Championships.
Th💎e Diamond League finale will also mark the end of Chopra's season.
(With PTI inputs)
