The last time Neeraj Chopra he competed at the Commonwealth Games, winning gold in 2018. He missed the next edition due to a groin injury. Now, after almost nine months and a return to competition just last month, the Olympic champion has another chance to fight for the title in Glasgow.Competing in the Doha Diamond League on June 19, where he had broken the 90m mark for the first time in his career last year, Chopra produced a best throw of 85.69m. It wasn’t enough for a top-three finish, but it helped her qualify for the Commonwealth Games.It was well short of his personal best of 90.23m, but Chopra has sounded confident since arriving in Glasgow and is focused on reclaiming the CWG title he won in 2018.While the qualifiers are scheduled for Thursday, Saturday night’s final is unlikely to be a walk in the park as he will be up against long-time rival Arshad Nadeem, as well as Sri Lanka’s Anderson Peters, Julius Yego and Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage.Nadeem hasn’t had a season’s best this year, but comes into the tournament as the defending champion after winning gold in 2022 with a throw of 90.18m. Yego, too, struggled to hit top form in 2026 but finished third in Birmingham with an effort of 85.70m.Peters, who finished second in 2022, has, meanwhile, been in good touch, with a best throw of 86.38m at the Doha Diamond League. Australia’s Cameron McEntyre has also made great strides this year and remains just ahead of Chopra in this season’s world rankings.However, the biggest attraction will be Sri Lanka’s Pathirage after he cleared a world record 92.62m at the Rome Diamond League. Apart from that, he also recorded throws of 89.37m, 89.28m and 88.68m this year, and Chopra admitted that he was impressed by the youngster.But the dark horse in the event could well be India’s Rohit Yadav. He enters the tournament after winning gold at the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar with a massive throw of 87.05m. This will be his second Commonwealth Games after finishing sixth in Birmingham with a best of 82.22m.“I missed out last time, but I will go there to win a medal this time,” Yadav had said in Bhubaneswar.While Neeraj’s performances over the years have always inspired him to do better, Yadav also takes confidence from the impressive performances of Indian athletes in recent months.“Everyone has a lot of belief in themselves these days and feels they can still achieve great things,” added the 25-year-old.However, he is convinced that there is no need to worry about Chopra despite her return to competition only last month. “He can produce big shots in any competition,” Yadav had said.Neeraj, however, is more focused on winning titles rather than producing big shots, and will take the first step towards that when he competes in the qualifiers on Thursday.
