Star Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra to Collaborate on Invitational Javelin Throw Meet in India

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India's double Olympic Games and World Championships medalist, Neeraj Chopra, recently joined Czech javelin legend Jan Zelezny's camp to aim for the elusive 90m mark and prepare for the 2025 season, which includes the World Athletics Championships.

The 26-year-old ace javelin thrower, whose personal best of 89.94m was recorded at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022, will also collaborate with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and other stakeholders to organize an invitational javelin throw meet in India after the Tokyo World Athletics Championships.

In the current training phase in January, Zelezny is not accompanying Chopra, who is training in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Following the Paris Olympic Games, Chopra ended his long-term partnership with German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz, as Bartonietz needed to dedicate more time to his family.

Explaining the yearly program of an elite athlete like Chopra, Adille Sumariwalla, one of the vice presidents of World Athletics, said it isn't always necessary to have a coach supervise training year-round. "There are different segments of training in a year, and each phase focuses on different aspects of preparation," Sumariwalla explained.

Sumariwalla, whose third term as president of the AFI concluded on Tuesday, highlighted that different experts oversee each training segment, leading to peak performance during major competitions. "This is how it works, and an athlete like Chopra is mature enough to understand what is required at different times of the year," Sumariwalla added.

Chopra will not compete in the Uttarakhand National Games, which commence on January 28. He is expected to begin his season with the Doha Diamond League.

On the invitational javelin throw meet in India later this year, Sumariwalla revealed that the world's top ten javelin throwers are expected to compete. "The AFI is working on the details of the competition," he stated. "This will significantly boost the popularity of the javelin throw in the country."

Globally, several elite athletes, including Greece's Olympic long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou, either participate in regional competitions or actively promote events as brand ambassadors to attract the athletics fraternity.