AFI reconsiders Neeraj Chopra’s Diamond League participation after ‘positive medical report’; final call before event-Sports News , Firstpost

File photo of Neeraj Chopra. AP

Kolkata: The Athletic Federation of India (AFI) has reconsidered its decision of not allowing javelin star Neeraj Chopra to participate in the upcoming Lausanne Diamond League (on 26 August) after the Tokyo Olympic Champion’s medical report showed improvement in recovering from a groin injury. The injury, which happened during the World Athletics Championships in July, forced Neeraj out of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham earlier this month.

A couple of days after confirming Neeraj’s non-participation in the Diamond League to Firstpost, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla on Sunday told the website that there’s hope for Neeraj, who is recuperating from the injury in Germany’s Saarbrücken, to compete in the prestigious event as his medical reports have shown significant improvement. The AFI top brass also added that a final decision on the same will be taken right before the competition.

“A day after our conversation, we were updated with Neeraj’s medical report,” AFI president tells Firstpost. “There has been a positive recovery from his injury so far but he is not 100 per cent fit yet. We will wait till a day before the competition to ensure he is ready to compete and then take a final call.”

Neeraj is currently in the reckoning for the Diamond League Grand final (on 7-8 September in Zurich) and currently sits fourth in the standings with seven points earned during the Stockholm’s leg with a second spot finish (89.70m throw). The Grand final will only accommodate the top six throwers to compete in the marquee event while Lausanne is the last Diamond League to have the men’s javelin throw event.

Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch is currently first in the standings with 20 points, followed by Germany’s Julian Weber (19 points) and World Champion Anderson Peters (16 pts), who is unlikely to compete in Lausanne after getting injured following an assault in his homeland Grenada.

Among other Indians in the fray in other events at the Diamond League are 3000m steeplechase star Avinash Sable and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar. As per AFI’s president’s earlier communication, Sable, who is eighth in the standings with four points, is still expected to run in Lausanne after considering his fitness for the event while Sreeshankar’s international season is over.

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