Double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra is still recovering from injuries and has not decided when to open his 2026 season, a senior Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official said. The former World Champion had competed in the 2025 Tokyo World Championships with a back injury and finished eighth in the final, ending a podium streak of 2,566 days.
“Neeraj is recovering from his injuries. During the World Championships, he had two injuries. Athletes don’t usually play with such injuries but he didn’t say a word,” AFI spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla told the reporters on Saturday. “We even asked him (Neeraj) not to compete but he said I have to do it for the country.”
When asked how Chopra has planned his season, Sumariwalla said: “His calendar is with his coach Jan Zelezny. Right now the focus is on his rehabilitation from the injury and not the season opener.”
After finishing eighth at the worlds, Chopra spoke about the back issues that impacted his performance. “Two weeks ago I had some back issues but I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was thinking I would still manage to get through it. But javelin is really tough. If you are not in a good shape, you’re out,” Chopra had said back then.
In the 2025 season, Chopra ended his long-term association with Dr Klaus Bartonietz and partnered with Czech world record holder Zelenzy. He crossed the coveted 90m mark early in the season but failed to replicate his success at the World Championships.
Qualification standards for Asiad
The AFI, meanwhile, announced the qualification criteria for the upcoming 2026 Asian Games.
The criteria have been announced before the start of the domestic season so that athletes know the requirements beforehand and there are no last-minute controversies related to selection during the continental showpiece.
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“The qualification standards are set as per the fifth or sixth place finish at the last edition of the Asian Games. We have kept it tighter to make the qualification competitive,” said Sumariwalla, who is also the World Athletics vice-president. “The final decision lies with the selection committee. The athletes have to keep their performance up throughout the season. It is mandatory for athletes to participate in the state meet.”
India’s Neeraj Chopra reacts in the men’s javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
*Events like men’s javelin throw, high jump and long jump will see tighter competition than others and the qualification standards are expected to be overhauled by much higher marks. We have kept tighter marks in certain events such as men’s and women’s 100m, 200m and 400m as we don’t want to carry passengers. The athletes who qualify but don’t have much medal potential,” explained Sumariwalla.*
India won a total of 29 athletics medals at the previous edition of the Asian Games with six gold, 14 silver, and nine bronze.
2026 will be a busy year for India’s track and field athletes, with the Commonwealth Games also scheduled for July. The focus, however, will be the Asian Games, Sumariwalla said. “We will take a call about the Commonwealth Games later in the year on which athletes we are going to send. But our main focus remains on Asian Games,” Sumariwalla said.
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Increased testing at State Meets
In the World Anti-Doping Agency’s annual report for 2024, India topped the charts for the third time in a row with 260 Indian athletes caught for violations. With athletics forming a large chunk of the violations, AFI is going to ask the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to ramp up the testing at the State Meets, Sumariwalla said. “We have asked NADA to go to all the possible meets and start doing random testing. The more testing we do, the more people we will catch,” he said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd