The 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest was a special one for India as Neeraj Chopra became the first-ever Indian world champion, defeating Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan in a tight final. But it is worth recalling that two more Indians- Kishore Kumar Jena and DP Manu also gave a good account of themselves, finishing in the top six, making it another first.
However, for the 2025 World Championships, the Indian javelin juggernaut will go one step further with four male athletes booking their berth for the Tokyo showpiece.
As the Athletics Federation of India announced the squad for the Worlds, India’s javelin is looking at history with four Indians qualifying for the marquee event starting from 13th September in Tokyo.
“I’m also particularly pleased that we have four javelin throwers who have qualified. The last time also there were four, but Rohit Yadav was injured and could not participate. And we had all of them in the finals in the top six. So we hope that this time also they’ll all be in the finals,” former AFI president and current World Athletics vice-president Adille Sumariwalla said.
Even five years back this wouldn’t have been deemed plausible, but Neeraj’s gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has created a new set of throwers in the country who are constantly pushing the competition.
Here’s how it was made possible. Neeraj became the first Indian to qualify as the defending world champion, which meant he would be getting a wildcard entry for the next edition, and not take up one of the three quotas alloted for a country. Next in line, Sachin Yadav’s rise in this season with National Games gold medal and Asian Athletics Championships silver meant that he solidified his quota by rankings. His silver medal at the Inter-State Athletics Championships further ensured his positioning. Yashvir Singh is the third Indian to book his berth via rankings as he has been consistently doing good at the high-ranking meets.
Rohit’s last moment entry
Usually, any country can send a maximum of three athletes to the World Championships but since Neeraj is the defending champion, India has one extra quota in javelin.
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For the majority of the qualification period, it looked like only Sachin and Yash will qualify alongside Neeraj but on the last day of the qualification window, Rohit recorded a personal best of 83.65m at the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Chennai, winning gold.
The gold put him in contention as he gained ranking points. However, when the World Athletics announced the final ranking list, he was one point short of qualification. However, a late withdrawal by higher-ranked Manu Quijera meant that Rohit was invited for the event, making it four Indians for the first time.
“I am happy and excited to be in Tokyo. I missed it last time due to an injury. It has been tough for me to return and rehab but the hard work paid off. I will try my best to throw another personal best in Tokyo,” Rohit told The Indian Express.
