Chopra to rely on consistency to defend Olympic gold as Indian athletes begin campaign

PARIS: Neeraj Chopra's broad shoulders will carry a weight of massive expectations when his fabled consistency is put through a trial by fire, while the lesser known names in India's 29-strong contingent will aim to emulate some of his success when the Olympic Games' athletics competition gets underway here on Thursday.

A nagging injury forced Chopra to compete in very few events in the build-up to the Games, but the star javelin thrower is still among the favourites to finish on the podium and perhaps clinch an unprecedented second successive gold medal.

A top podium finish on August 8 for Chopra will make him only the fifth man in Olympics history to defend his title and the first Indian to win two gold medals in an individual event in the multi-sporting spectacle.

Eric Lemming (Sweden; 1908 and 1912), Jonni Myyra (Finland; 1920 and 1924), Jan Zelezny (Czech Republic; 1992, 1996 and 2000) and Andreas Thorkildsen (Norway; 2004 and 2008) are the only ones to have defended the men's javelin gold medals in the Olympics.

He has competed in just three events this year but the 26-year-old world champion is back in full flow in a season where none of his global competitors have done exceptionally well.

After finishing second in the Doha Diamond League in May with a throw of 88.36m, which is his season's best, Chopra withdrew from Ostrava Golden Spike on May 28 as a precautionary measure after he felt "something" in his adductor (group of muscles located on inner thighs).

Chopra, who has a personal best of 89.94m, made a strong comeback by winning gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland on June 18 with a throw of 85.97m.

He later opted out of the Paris Diamond League on July 7, insisting that the event was never a part of his competition calendar this year. His coach later dismissed concerns surrounding Chopra's fitness, telling PTI that his adductor has no issues now and his ward has been in high intensity phase of training.

One of the most consistent javelin throwers in recent times, Chopra has sent his spear below 85m mark just twice out of his 15 competitions since winning gold in Tokyo Olympics.

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Czech thrower Jakub Vadlejch, who beat Chopra in the Doha Diamond League, Germany's Julian Weber and former world champion Anderson Peters will once again be the Indian superstar's main rivals.

The other Indian in fray in men's javelin, Kishore Jena, who booked an automatic berth with his 87.54m throw in the Asian Games last year but has struggled to cross the 80m mark after that.

The qualification round of men's javelin throw competition will be held on August 6.

Athletics competition will begin with the men's and women's 20km race walk. Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh and Paramjeet Singh Bisht will compete in the men's event while Priyanka Goswami will feature in the women's event.

Among others in the contingent, men's 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable and the men's 4x400m relay team have the potential to push for a place in the top five.

Sable recently broke his own 3000m steeplechase national record at the Paris Diamond League, clocking 8 minutes and 9.91 seconds, bettering his earlier mark by one and a half seconds.

But he still finished sixth at the prestigious meet, a fair indicator of how difficult it will be for the Indian to win a medal in the Olympics.

Two of the best runners in the event, world record (7:52.11) holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia and reigning Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco were not there in the Paris Diamond League.

The same is true for the men's 4x400m relay team though the return of key member Rajesh Ramesh from an injury lay-off is good news.

The likes of Jyothi Yarrajji (women's 100m hurdles), Parul Chaudhary (women's 3000m steeplechase), Annu Rani (women's javelin throw), the women's 4x400m relay team, Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), triple jumpers Praveen Chithravel and Abulla Aboobacker can aim for at least final round qualifications.

National record holder shot putter Abha Khatua was mysteriously dropped from the original athletics team of 30. There was no explanation from any Indian official whether her name has been dropped owing to injury, a doping violation or any other technical issue.

Meanwhile, a repechage round will be introduced to all individual track events from 200m to 1500m, including the hurdles events. The new format will replace the earlier one where some athletes advanced to the semifinals through fastest times in addition to the top placings in the first round heats.

Instead, only the athletes in the top placings will get automatic qualification and all the remaining will get a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals by participating in repechage heats.