Odds stacked against Neeraj as he looks to erase 2025 Worlds memory

The weight of expectations on Neeraj Chopra’s shoulders — ever since he became the first Indian to achieve the unachievable in Tokyo 2020 — continues to remain the same. If anything, a country of 1.4 billion will be hoping for the javelin hero to restore the old order in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Friday night (12.45 am IST) after a blip in the Tokyo Worlds last year.

All eyes were on the qualifying rounds of the men’s javelin competition, where the double Olympic medallist and former world champion took his appointed place in the final with a best throw of 79.61 m in his second attempt and finished in fifth place. He leads an Indian trio in the final with Rohit Yadav and Yash Vir Singh, with throws of 78.37 m and 78.36 m respectively, for the ninth and 10th places.

The top 12 will compete in the final and Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, who fired up the javelin fraternity by breaching the 90-m mark for gold at Paris 2024, finished seventh with 78.63 m. This effectively pitches Neeraj and Arshad head-to-head once again, but the dynamics of power in their sport has shifted over the last couple of years, with Sri Lankan Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, winner of this season’s Doha and Diamond League meetings, emerging as favourite after qualifying with a first attempt of 82.84 m.

Neeraj is a former CWG champion, having won gold at Gold Coast, Australia in 2018, but didn’t defend his crown in Birmingham four years later due to injury. This time, the windy conditions at Scotstoun Stadium came in the way for all the 18 javelin throwers on show, as none of them managed to breach the automatic qualifying mark of 84 m. Former world champion Anderson Peters (81.29 m), South African Douw Smit (80.64 m) and England’s Ben East (80.38 m) were the only others to cross the 80 m mark in the qualifiers.

Neeraj, quite understandably, took a cautious route to the final as he has just recovered from a lower back injury which interrupted his 2025-26 build-up. The 28-year-old competed selectively this year, which included a fourth place finish at the Doha Diamond League (85.69 m). While most athletes would like to see Glasgow as a build-up to the Asian Games in September, Neeraj can’t afford that ‘luxury’ because of the pressure of expectations.

The athlete, hailed as arugably the greatest ever from the country, has set such a benchmark of consistency that when he finished eighth and missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Worlds, it ended a streak of 2,566 days over 33 events since the grounded superstar missed out on a podium finish. Incredible numbers for a physically demanding sport like javelin but then, that sums up the importance of being Neeraj Chopra in Indian sport.