Tokyo [Japan], September 16 : India's Olympic medalist and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will kickstart his title defence at the ongoing World Athletics Championships when he plays the men's javelin throw qualifiers in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The medal clash is scheduled for Thursday. Neeraj's clash with Pakistani arch-rival and reigning Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem will be one of the major highlights of the competition.
Back in 2023, when Neeraj became the first Indian to secure a World Championships gold medal with a throw of 88.17 m in Budapest, it was Arshad who ended up as silver medalist with a throw of 87.82 m, as per Olympics.com. With the Pakistani outshining Neeraj with an Olympic record throw of 92.97 m to capture the gold and having Neeraj settle for a silver, this rivalry, majorly dominated by Neeraj, has only intensified.
Neeraj is currently ranked world number two and is chasing a third-successive medal at the showpiece event, becoming India's first World Championships silver medalist and first male medalist back in 2022, following it with a historic gold at Budapest in 2023.
So far, the Indian superstar has enjoyed a spectacular 2025 season.
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. The 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 at Zurich.
It was Germany's Julian Weber who topped the field with a massive throw of 91.51 m, which came on his second attempt. He performed two massive 91-plus throws in his first two attempts. Neeraj did not have the best night, starting with two throws in the early 80s, following it with three disappointing fouls, which put his top-two finish streak under threat, but in his final throw of 85 m plus, he came in clutch to extend his run of top-two finishes to 26 successive events.
This season, he is third in terms of throws, with Germany's Julian Weber and Brazil's Luiz da Silva having thrown better.
There is a field of 37 throwers, split in two groups, battling for 12 places in Thursday's final, with the automatic qualification being 84.50 m.
The 27-year-old Indian superstar is a part of Group A, while Arshad is in Group B. From India, there will be three more in contention for finals, Sachin Yadav (Group A), Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh (Group B).