Neeraj Chopra Skips Brussels Diamond League Meet, Already Assured of Final Slot

Until the showpiece Diamond League Finals in September, top Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will forgo the final leg of this top-tier event, in Brussels, Belgium on Friday. Among 14 DL meetings four have javelin throw (men) on schedule. Chopra qualified for the DL Final that will take place in Zurich, Switzerland on August 28, although she participated in only two. On August 16 he had missed out on Silesia, as well.

At the Doha DL in May, the 27-year-old reigning world champion surpassed the newly desired 90m submission by 90.23 but her effort placed second to Julian Weber of Germany. He later won Paris DL in June with the throw of 88.16m.

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The best six who perform in the Brussels leg, will qualify to the DL Finals in Zurich.

Chopra last time competed was at the NC Classic two weeks back on July 5, in his home town of Bengaluru, where he threw 86.18m to win the gold at the competition that he hosted. To date, he has played in six matches and has registered a win in four of them, and is a second runner-up in two events.

Chopra will be defending her title at the World Championships to be held in Tokyo September 13- 21.

Diamond League is a one-day series of elite+ athletics meetings in the world.

The points are earned at the 14 series meetings leading to the two-day Diamond League Final, on August 27 and 28, in Zurich.

The DL Final is win or lose and the winners in each of the 32 events are declared Diamond League champions.

All the champions are given the legendary Diamond Trophy and a wild card to the World Athletics Championships.

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The javelin competition of men will be organized on August 28. Trophy and a prize money of USD 30,000 will be awarded to winner of every event. The second place finisher will earn USD 12,000 and third place- finisher USD 7,000.

This year, however, the prize money of the eight events of the 32 that the winners will win is increased.

These eight will be the 100m men, 1500m men, 400m hurdles men, pole vault men, 100m women, 100m hurdles women, 3000m women and the long jump women.

The total payout on these eight events will be USD 50,000 to the winner, USD 20,000 to the second and third-place holders and 10,000 to the third place holder.

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