No revenge on the card as Chopra seeks winning return after Paris 2024 Olympics disappointment

After failing to successfully defend his Olympic javelin title in Paris, losing to ‘bitter’ rival Arshad Nadeem, due to the complex relationship between India and Pakistan, Neeraj Chopra will be seeking to return to winning ways on Thursday at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting.

Chopra, the reigning world champion, tops the list of athletes confirmed for the 11th leg of the 15-leg 2024 Wanda Diamond League meetings and the 26-year-old will be looking to throw himself into the final of the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium next month.

The Indian sits fourth in the Javelin standings with seven points from his second-place finish in Doha in May.

Chopra is now returning to the Diamond League stage and victory on Thursday will confirm his spot in the 6-man team that will not only fight for the $30,000 and Diamond League trophy on offer but also a wild card to compete in Tokyo, Japan next year at the 20th World Athletics Championships where the Indian will be seeking for a successful title defence.

Chopra will also be seeking to reclaim his Diamond League title from Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch who won last year in Oregon to deny him the chance to successfully defend the title he won a year earlier in Zurich.

With Nadeem out of Lausanne and sixth in the standings going into the battle in Lausanne, Chopra may not get the chance to extract his pound of flesh from the Pakistani who chose the biggest stage in sport to record his first defeat in 11 head-to-head clashes with the Indian-and at the final of the Olympics!

The athletes will still seek the points to get them into the train to Brussels when they visit Zurich on September 5 and Nadeem may be available to punch his ticket and make it India Vs Pakistan rematch.