New Delhi, Sep 7 (FN Agency) Reigning Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra will be aiming to script history at the Zurich Diamond League Grand Final on Thursday.The 24-year-old athlete will be eyeing his maiden Diamond League Finals title. He had qualified for the Finals in 2017 and 2018, finishing seventh and fourth respectively.Chopra had finished first at the Lausanne Diamond League meet in August – becoming the first Indian in history to win a leg of the Diamond League after coming from a injury layoff. He had missed the Birmingham Commonwealth Games due to a groin injury he had suffered during his silver-winning performance in the World Championships in USA in July. The win in Lausanne along with a second-place finish at the Stockholm leg, steered the Indian javelin thrower to the Grand Final in Zurich.
He is the only Indian athlete to qualify for this year’s grand finale. Chopra, clinched the silver medal at the world athletics championships in Oregon earlier this year, will start as a favourite at the Grand Final in Zurich. Among the athletes in the final, Chopra has the second-best throw of the season at 89.94m, a personal best and national record set at the Stockholm Diamond League back in June.Chopra’s biggest challenge in Zurich will be the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, Tokyo Silver medallist and 2016 Diamond League champion, who has a best throw of 90.88m this season. Julian Weber of Germany, who is reigning European champion, will also give a stiff competition to the Olympic champion.
World champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who had successfully defended his world title at Oregon this year and won the silver medal at CWG skipped the event as he is recuperating from an injury sustained during an attack on him during post the Commonwealth Games party. The Diamond League encompasses 32 Diamond Disciplines, following a championship style model. Athletes earn points at the 13 series meetings to qualify for the final of their discipline.The winner of each Diamond League at the Final will become “Diamond League Champion” and be awarded a Diamond Trophy, $30’000 prize money and a wild card for the World Athletics Championships.Chopra had already qualified for the 2023 Worlds courtesy, as the winning thow of 89.08 in Lussane breached the direct qualification mark of 85.20m.