NEW DELHI: India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra She will compete at the Asian Games in Japan later this year as she looks to defend her gold medal, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) selection committee chairman Adille Sumariwalla confirmed on Saturday.The two-time Olympic medalist has already confirmed his participation in the Commonwealth Games, and the AFI has now said that he will also be part of India’s campaign at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya from September 19 to October 4.“Will participate in both”Sumariwalla said Chopra has recovered well from the back injury that delayed the start of his 2026 season.“Yes. He (Chopra) will participate in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. He has already qualified and is recovering. He did 86m (85.69m) in his first event, which is fantastic,” Sumariwalla told PTI.“He won a gold with 88m (at the 2022 Asian Games in China), so he’s already close to 86m, so we see no reason why he won’t do well in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.”Chopra made her season debut at the Doha Diamond League, where she finished fourth with a best throw of 85.69m after recovering from a back injury.A tough challenge awaitsChopra will go to Japan as the defending Asian Games champion after winning gold in Hangzhou in 2023 with a throw of 88.88m.The men’s javelin event is expected to be highly competitive, with Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, who crossed the 90m mark earlier this year, among the main contenders. Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem could also be in the field.Focus on peaking at the right timeSumariwalla said the AFI has left Chopra and her support staff to decide whether she needs another competition before the Commonwealth Games.“We left it to him (regarding the competition before CWG), we say that his medical team, his coach, everyone will sit together and work out what are the best competitions that he needs to compete in,” he said.“The important thing was for him to qualify, which he did. Now the important thing is how we make it the peak at the Commonwealth Games and also in the Asian Games.”India was hoping to host the World ChampionshipsSumariwalla also said that India remains in the running to host the 2029 or 2031 World Athletics Championships in Ahmedabad. The country has also proposed to host the 2028 U20 World Championships.“We made offers to host the two championships in Ahmedabad. A World Athletics team was here in Ahmedabad, with the chairman of the bid committee. They inspected the infrastructure, evaluated the transport, hotels, operations, climate, food, everything.”“It is a very tough competition, there is London which has hosted World Championships and Olympics, there is Munich which has also hosted the Olympic Games, there is Kenya which has done two Junior World Championships, so the fight is tremendous.”“We have presented our best scenario to them and we will wait and see what happens. A decision on the host city will be made in a meeting after the World Ultimate Athletics Championship in Budapest (September 11-13).AFI confident ahead of Asian GamesLooking ahead to the Asian Games, Sumariwalla said the federation expects India to perform even better than in the previous edition.“From what we see, things are looking good, hopefully we should do better than last time.”“While the government said those in the sixth place and the eighth place (for the selection), we took those in the third or fourth place in most events. However, so many people have qualified, so it only shows the strength of the bank, it only shows that what AFI is doing is right, that AFI’s strategy is working and we are on the right track.”
