Also competing alongside Neeraj will be Kishore Jena, who qualified for the Paris Games with his silver medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year, where Neeraj, who is also the reigning world champion, won his second consecutive Asiad gold.
Starting first in the qualification round on Tuesday at the Stade de France will be Jena, who is clubbed with 15 other throwers in Group A. Neeraj is slotted in Group B of another 16 throwers, making it a field of 32 athletes in total.
(Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena at the Asian Games in Hangzhou – Getty Images)
Here’s how the qualification rules at the Paris Olympics work in men’s javelin-throw competition:
– The qualification standard is set at 84 metres, which means any thrower achieving that distance qualifies directly for the final.
– In case none of the throwers manage to achieve the qualification standard of 84 metres, then the 12 best performers according to distance achieved advance to the final.
– However, the Paris Games rules state that if more than 12 throwers achieve the qualification standard of 84 metres, then all of them advance to the final.
Here are how the two qualification-round groups stack up:
Group A (1:45 pm IST on August 6)
Julius Yego (Kenya), Oliver Helander (Finland), Leandro Ramos (Portugal), Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago), Kishore Jena (India), Teura’itera’i Tupaia (France), Julian Weber (Germany), Roderick Genki Dean (Japan), Alexandru Mihaita Novac (Romania), Dawid Wegner (Poland), Toni Keranen (Finland), Ihab Abdelrahman (Egypt), Curtis Thompson (USA), Patriks Gailums (Latvia), Pedro Henrique Rodrigues (Brazil), Jakub Vadlejch (Czechia)
Group B (3:20 pm IST on August 6)
Neeraj Chopra (India), Gatis Cakss (Latvia), Max Dehning (Germany), Cameron McEntyre (Australia), Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan), Marcin Krukowski (Poland), Lassi Etelatalo (Finland), Nnamdi Chinecherem (Nigeria), Luiz Mauricio da Silva (Brazil), Moustafa Mahmoud (Egypt), Artur Felfner (Ukraine), Timothy Herman (Belgium), Anderson Peters (Grenada), Andrian Mardare (Moldova), Edis Matusevicius (Lithuania), Cyprian Mrzyglod (Poland)