Ostrava [Czech Republic]: Olympic and World Championships gold medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra pulled himself out of the Ostrava Golden Spike 2024 athletics meet in the Czech Republic due to an injury. Chopra suffered an adductor muscle injury during training a couple of weeks back which resulted in his withdrawal from the athletics meet.
However, the Indian javelin thrower will be present as a guest for the 63rd edition of the annual athletics competition, which will take place on Tuesday. The organisers of the competition have replaced Neeraj Chopra with Germany's Julian Weber. The men's javelin throw field in Ostrava will also feature home favourite Jakub Vadlejch, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist and reigning Diamond League and Golden Spike champion.
Former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada is also in the mix. This marks the second successive year that Neeraj had to pull out of the Ostrava Golden Spike. He was also listed to compete last year but failed to make it due to a muscle injury. The Ostrava meet was supposed to be Neeraj Chopra's third competitive outing of the season.
Before the start of the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024, Neeraj started his season at the Doha Diamond League on May 11 and ended in second place with a throw of 88.36m. Recently, Chopra competed at the Federation Cup athletics meet in Bhubaneswar and won the gold medal in his first competitive outing in India since 2021. The ace javelin thrower logged a stunning throw of 82.27m to beat Manu DP at the Kalinga Stadium. Neeraj Chopra is listed to compete in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland's Turku next on June 18.
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