NEW DELHI, Aug 20: Through to the high-profile Diamond League Finals, star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will skip the last leg of the prestigious series in Brussels, Belgium on Friday.
Out of the 14 DL meetings, four have men’s javelin throw on their roster.
Chopra competed in only two, but qualified for the DL Final to be held in Zurich, Switzerland on August 28. He had also skipped the Silesia leg on August 16.
The 27-year-old reigning world champion went past the coveted 90m mark at the Doha DL in May with a throw of 90.23m but finished second behind German Julian Weber. He then won the Paris DL with a throw of 88.16m in June.
The top six after the Brussels leg will make it to the DL Finals in Zurich.
Chopra’s last competitive outing was at the NC Classic on July 5 in Bengaluru where he threw 86.18m to win the title at the event he hosted. In all, he has competed in six events so far this season, winning four times and finishing second twice.Chopra will defend the title at the World Championships to be held in Tokyo from September 13-21.
Diamond League is an elite one-day meeting series in global athletics.Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Diamond League Final, which will be held in Zurich on August 27 and 28.
The DL Final is a winner-takes-all competition and the championin each of the 32 events is crowned Diamond League champion.Each champion is awarded the iconic Diamond Trophy and a wild card for the World Athletics Championships. (PTI)
