World Champion Neeraj Looking To Repeat Heroics at Diamond League in Zurich
Neeraj Chopra will be in action at the Zurich Diamond League on 31 August
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The 2023 Wanda Diamond League will host its 11th competition of the season in Zurich, with World Champion Neeraj Chopra looking to continue his red-hot form.
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will also be seen in action.
This will be the third Diamond League event for the defending champion where he sits third in the standings behind Czech Jakub Vadlejch and German Julian Weber. The final will get underway at 12:12 am late on Thursday night.
The ace javelin thrower was crowned the World Champion on Monday after recording a throw of 88.17m in Budapest, Hungary. Speaking about his experience at the Championships, Neeraj during a press conference ahead of the Zurich Diamond League said, “The World Championship was very challenging for me but I was very prepared from my mind. I was thinking okay, I have a problem but I changed a little bit of technique with my right leg and it worked but the World Championships was hard, not only with the body but also with the mind.”
Further speaking about his aim to cross the 90m mark, he said, "In my country, there are so many people and (that causes) too much for me and the World Championships medal was the only gold medal I didn’t have before. Like Gianmarco, I also have a complete (set) now. I won the Olympics in Tokyo and now World Championships gold and I just have a 90-metre mark now.”
Neeraj will be part of a ten-member strong field including Grenada’s Andersen Peters and Finland’s Oliver Helander.
Sreeshankar, meanwhile, will be out for redemption in Zurich. After a disappointing performance in the WAC, he will look to outjump fierce competitors in Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece), William Williams (USA), and Carey McLeod (Jamaica), among others.
The Indian athlete is currently third in the Diamond League long jump standings and will hope to inch closer to the top.
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