Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra has been forced to withdraw from the Paavo Nurmi Games that is set to be held from June 13 at Turku in Finland, citing a muscle strain he had sustained last month.
The javelin-thrower has already informed the organisers about his pulling out from the World Athletics Continental Tour gold level event due to 'health' issues.
What did the organisers say about Neeraj Chopra's participation?
"Javelin Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra cancelled his participation in the Paavo Nurmi Games. Chopra's manager messaged the competition organisers that the athlete has health problems, which is why the (his) competition had to be cancelled," read a statement on the website of the Finnish Athletics Federation.
Jari Salonen, CEO of PN Turku Oy, which organises the Paavo Nurmi Games further commented: "Of course, peak cancellations are always upsetting. At the moment, there seem to be quite a few 90m javelin throwers from recent years injured. Chopra's second best result of all time is from Turku last summer and he was certainly looking forward to the competition at least as much as we were."
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Chopra had earlier refrained from participating in the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo, the Netherlands. The 25-year-old mentioned that he wants to avoid risks that could “aggravate the injury” and after a medical evaluation, has decided to not feature at the event.
Will be back soon! 🙏 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/xJE86ULv5X
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) May 29, 2023
In 2023, he has already won the Doha Diamond League leg on May 5 with a World Lead mark of 88.67m. The next Diamond League leg for javelin is set to be held on June 30 in Lausanne, Switzerland. It remains to be seen if he gets fit before the event.
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