Neeraj Chopra to compete in Golden Spike Ostrava athletics meet

Neeraj Chopra to compete in Golden Spike Ostrava athletics meet (Image Source: Google)

Reigning Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra will feature in a strong javelin throw field at the Ostrava Golden Spike, 11th World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting of the season, in Ostrava on June 27.

The Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist will begin his 2023 season at the Doha Diamond League Meet on May 5.

The 25-year-old is the reigning Diamond League champion. He won the coveted title in September last year at the Diamond League finals in Zurich, becoming the first Indian athlete to win the trophy.

At an event in Ostrava, the javelin will again be in the spotlight. India's Olympic champion Chopra, who claimed a historic world silver in Oregon will again face the two athletes who had joined him on the podium there -- Grenada's two-time world gold medallist Anderson Peters and Czech Republic's bronze medallist Jakub Vadlejch.

Besides, 3000m steeplechase runner Lamecha Girma and 100m hurdler Tobi Amusan will join their fellow world record-holder Paul Vaulter Mondo Duplantis at the Ostrava Golden Spike.

In the women's category, the Japanese athlete Haruka Kitaguchi (66.00), the bronze medallist at the World Championships and winner of the DL meetings in Paris and Silesia will be up against the World and European championships finalist Czech Republic's Nikola Ogrodnikova.