Spotlight On Neeraj Chopra As He Competes For First Time As Diamond League Champion

Competing for the first time as Diamond League champion, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be up against his familiar nemeses in the first leg of the prestigious meetings series on Friday, as he aims to begin a 'long' season studded with a strong performance. The 25-year-old Chopra, also a 2022 World Championships silver winner, faces the likes of reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic in a star-studded field at the Qatar Sports Club.

Chopra, who has a personal best and national record of 89.94m, had finished fourth with 87.43m in 2018 in the only other participation in the Doha Diamond League. He could not take part here last year due to lack of "overall fitness and strength".

Despite missing the Doha leg, Chopra went on to script history one after the other last year. He became the first Indian Diamond League champion after winning the 2022 grand finale in Zurich in September. A month before that, he became the first Indian to win a Diamond League Meeting in Lausanne.

Chopra last month said that he was feeling better "physically and technically" at the corresponding point in time, but it will not be easy for him to win the top prize in the season-opening Diamond League here, going by the incredible competition seen here last year.

Peters had produced the fifth-longest throw in history by hurling the spear to 93.07m, a mark just outside German Thomas Rohler's 93.90m, a meeting record set in 2017.

Vadlejch, who finished second behind Chopra in Tokyo Olympics and won a bronze in the 2022 World Championships, also recorded a personal of 90.88m here last year in his first ever throw over 90m.

Alongside the decorated trio, the Doha Meeting