Neeraj Chopra: Commonwealth Games Will Be Tougher Than Olympics

"Commonwealth Games will be a tough competition": Neeraj Chopra ahead of Doha Diamond League

Doha, June 18

After last year's World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, where he failed to defend his title, finishing eighth and getting outshone by a fourth-placed Sachin Yadav, Neeraj will be making his return to action at the Doha leg of the Diamond League on Friday. The venue holds a special place in Neeraj's career, as he threw 90.23 m last year under the guidance of his former coach and Czech javelin legend Jan Zelezny, silencing all the talks around him breaching the 90 m mark.

However, this time around, things have changed for Neeraj, with two more challengers emerging from Asia. Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage, the current world leader, will compete after producing a remarkable 92.62m throw at the Rome Diamond League 2026 earlier this month, will be participating in the competition along with Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who holds the Olympic record and gold medal with a throw of 92.97 m.

"All of them have thrown 90m, so the Commonwealth Games will not be less (competitive) than the Olympics or World Championships; it will be a really tough competition," Chopra said during the presser at Doha as quoted by Olympics.com.

On his epic 90 m throw last year, Neeraj has some interesting thoughts, noting that he could have gone two to three metres further.

"Technically, that throw was not that good. It was really fast from the arm, but if I had done better with my lower body, that may be two to three metres more," Chopra explained.

Neeraj also needs to achieve the mark of 82.61 m set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to secure his CWG 2026 qualification. CWG will be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 2 this year. If qualified, Neeraj will be aiming to reclaim the gold he won back in the Gold Coast 2018 edition. The Indian javelin superstar missed the 2022 Birmingham edition due to injury, where Arshad Nadeem took home the gold with a games record of 90.18m.

Neeraj said that competing in Tokyo last year, where his best throw was a mere 84.03 m, may have done him more harm than good, noting that he had an injury before the world meet.

"I had an injury last year before the Tokyo World Championships. We worked a lot and also competed in Tokyo, but I don't think that was a good decision because I already knew that I had some problems," he said. "But that was the last competition, so I decided to compete there," he said.

After months of rehab and recovery, though, Neeraj feels "really good and fit" to resume.

He also confirmed that he has returned to working with his long-time mentor Jaiveer Chaudhary, after ending his coaching partnership with Zelezny earlier this year, saying that he is working on his "natural technique" with someone who has known him since the start of his career.

"He knows my story from the last 15-16 years. He knows my training plans and everything, so now we work on my technique," Chopra said.

"We are not working on anything specific. I am working on my natural technique," he signed off.

— ANI