Who can stop Indias Neeraj Chopra from winning an Olympic medal?
An 18-year-old Javelin thrower from India made headlines at the 2016 World Junior Athletics Championships with a throw of 86.48m. He broke the world junior record and won India's first gold medal at the meet. Overnight, a star was born and he came to be known as Neeraj Chopra. Indian prodigy Neeraj, went on to break records. He won an Asiad gold medal along with bagging a Commonwealth Games gold in 2018. The next year and a half saw him miss out on important international tournaments due to an elbow injury. Out of competition, Neerajs world rankings took a dip. Since recovering, Neerajs big comeback came in 2020 when he pulled a perfect throw in his first tournament at the ACNE League meeting in Potchefstroom, South Africa. After throwing a distance of 87.86m, Neeraj sealed not only the top spot in the competition, but also qualified for his first Olympic Games, with ease. Neerajs personal best, which is India's current national record, stands at 88.07m. Surprisingly, this mark is shy of Rio 2016's gold medal-winning throw by only 2.23m. Germanys Thomas Rohler (who pulled out of Tokyo Olympics 2020) won his countrys first gold medal in the event in 80 years after throwing a distance of 90.30m. Even if Neerajs personal best falls short by a few meters for a gold medal finish, the distance is still 2.69m more than last editions bronze medal mark. There are at least six or seven throwers who consistently hit the 86m-87m mark. Keeping all that in mind, a 91m or 92m throw will be good enough to keep me in medal contention, but in the end it all depends on how everyone performs on the day when it matters the most, Neeraj Chopra said ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020. From the athletes qualified for the Olympics, at least four have breached the 90m-mark, a distance that Neeraj aims to touch at Tokyo 2020. Let's take a look at the athletes that could pose a threat to Neeraj Chopra at the Summer Games. #1 Johannes Vetter  Speechless! 97,76m - New National Record, Meeting Record - World Lead - 72cm close to the World Record!  Dzikuj @memorial_kamili_skolimowskiej @contitourgold  #VetterWurf  Pawe Skraba https://t.co/cc4kB45tsa pic.twitter.com/qnyVuqmOZm  Johannes Vetter (@jojo_javelin) September 6, 2020  World no.1 Johannes Vetter, who competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, remains a hot favorite to win a gold medal, having only recently thrown a giant distance of 97.76m. Breaching the 90m-mark consistently in the past few meets, the German will surely prove to be strong competition. If his form persists in the upcoming Diamond League meets, it is safe to say that Vetter will be aiming for an Olympic gold, while everybody else will simply be competing for the remaining two medals. #2 Chao-Tsun Cheng  Along with strong European competition, Indias medal hopeful will have a tough opponent in fellow Asian athlete from Chinese Taipei - Chao-Tsun Cheng. Even though Neeraj has beaten this Asian record holder twice before, he still remains strong competition with an overall world ranking of 3. Another German athlete who can be a threat to Neeraj Chopra at Tokyo 2020 is world no. 4 Andreas Hofmann. Both Neeraj and Andreas have been junior champions. But even as Andreas' career-best throw is a proud 92.06m, it must be noted that this distance was achieved in 2018, around the time Neeraj threw his first 87m+ and was just about getting started. #4 Keshorn Walcott  Keshorn Walcott is a two-time Olympic medallist  The two-time Olympic medallist from Trinidad and Tobago, Keshorn Walcott, is back in the fray with back-to-back silver medal-winning performances in Finland in June. He recorded his 2021 season-best with an 82.84m throw at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. Two weeks later, he bettered his previous best with another runner-up performance, covering a distance of 89.12m, behind Vetters 93.59m throw but ahead of India's javelin star Neerajs 86.79m bronze medal performance. Julius Yego - Rio 2016 Silver Medallist  Next in line is none other than Mr. YouTube - Julius Yego. The self-made and self-taught Rio 2016 silver medallist from Kenya might stand right in the way of Neeraj Chopra and a potential Olympic medal. Even if his silver medal throw of 88.24m is little more than Neerajs national record, his personal best is a throw of 92.72m. But, here's the catch. It came six years ago at the world championships in Beijing in 2015. For the past two years, his best has stood a little under Neeraj's 88.07m. He'll be a tough competitor nonetheless. Neeraj recently returned to competitive tournaments and recorded satisfactory performances in three events since June 10. In his first event in Lisbon, Portugal, Neeraj threw a best effort of 83.18m before lowering the mark in his next outing at the Karlstad Grand Prix in Sweden with a throw of 80.96m. His latest performance won him a bronze medal at the Kuortane Games in Finland behind world no.1 Johannes Vetter and London 2012 gold and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Keshorn Walcott. Edited by Prem Deshpande