NEW DELHI: India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra will compete in the Asian Games in Japan later this year as he looks to defend his gold medal, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) selection committee chairman Adille Sumariwalla confirmed on Saturday.The two-time Olympic medalist has already confirmed his participation in the Commonwealth Games and the AFI has now made it clear that he will also be part of India’s campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games from September 19 to October 4.‘He will participate in both’Sumariwalla said Chopra has recovered well from the lower back injury that delayed the start of his 2026 season.“Yes. He (Chopra) will participate in both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. He has already qualified and is recovering. He jumped 86m (85.69m) in his first event, which is fantastic,” Sumariwalla told PTI.“He won gold at 88m (at the 2022 Asian Games in China), so he’s already close to 86m, so we see no reason why he shouldn’t do well at both the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.”Chopra made his season debut at the Diamond League in Doha, where he finished fourth with a best throw of 85.69m after recovering from a lower back injury.A difficult challenge awaits youChopra will head to Japan as the defending Asian Games champion after winning gold in Hangzhou 2023 with a throw of 88.88m.The men’s javelin event is expected to be highly competitive, with Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage among the leading contenders, who broke the 90m mark earlier this year. Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem could also be in the field.Focus on peaking at the right timeSumariwalla said the AFI had left it up to Chopra and his support staff to decide whether he needed another competition before the Commonwealth Games.“We’ve left it up to him (about competing before the CWG), we’re saying his medical team, his trainer, they’ll all sit together and decide what are the best competitions to compete for,” he said.“The important thing was that he qualified, which he did. Now the important thing is how we make him top at the Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Games.”India hopes to host the World CupSumariwalla also said that India remains in the race to host the World Athletics Championships in 2029 or 2031 in Ahmedabad. The country has also bid to host the 2028 Under-20 World Cup.“We bid to host both these championships in Ahmedabad. The World Athletics team was there in Ahmedabad, along with the chairman of the bid committee. They looked at the infrastructure, assessed transport, hotels, operations, weather, food, everything.”“It’s a very tough competition, there’s London who hosted the World Championships and the Olympics, there’s Munich who also hosted the Olympics, there’s Kenya who did two Junior World Championships, so the fight is huge.”“We presented them with our best possible scenario and let’s wait and see what happens. The decision on the host city will be made at the meeting after the World Athletics Championships in Budapest (September 11-13).”AFI confident ahead of the Asian GamesLooking ahead to the Asian Games, Sumariwalla said the federation expects India to perform even better than the previous edition.“From what we see, things are going well, hopefully we should be better than last time.”“Even though the government said sixth and eighth (for selection), we take third or fourth in most events. So many people have qualified though, so it just shows the strength of the bench, it just shows that what AFI is doing is right, that AFI’s strategy is working and we’re on the right track.”
