India's javelin champion Neeraj Chopra aims for strong comeback before LA Olympics

Mumbai: Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has confirmed that he is recovering from his ankle injury and is on track for a comeback in the upcoming season. Chopra, who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and a silver at the Paris Games in 2024, was sidelined by an ankle injury he suffered during training in August this year.

"There is still some time left for the Olympics in 2028. As you would know, I am on a comeback trail and I am feeling much better to a great extent with the ankle injury,” said Chopra.

"The focus now is to have a strong comeback next year and to bring out the performance which was held back," the 28-year-old added.

The injury had previously ruled Chopra out of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as well as the Diamond League final. “If we talk about the last Asian Games, we brought two medals, a gold and a silver, and this time around even though Kishore (Jena) and I were not there, we have got two medals,” said the athlete in appreciation of Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav, who won the silver and bronze medals in javelin throw, respectively, at the Asian Games 2026.

“The emergence of our new and young athletes is a very good sign for India that there is no dearth of talent here and I wish them well for the future. I would tell them to look after themselves well and remain injury-free and enjoy the sport,” added Chopra.
(With PTI inputs)