India's javelin champion Neeraj Chopra ends season early after ligament tear

Former Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has ended his 2026 season early after sustaining a ligament tear during training, the javelin thrower announced in an Instagram post on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Indian, who took gold at the Tokyo Olympics and won silver in Paris, placed second in the Lausanne Diamond League with a throw of 88.05 metres last week, but suffered the injury soon after, getting sidelined for a long period for the second time in a year.

“After discussions with my doctor and team, we’ve decided that I will sit out the rest of this season,” Chopra posted.

“It’s disappointing, especially because I felt close to finding my rhythm. But as they say, setbacks are a part of the journey.”

Chopra, who had been dealing with lower back discomfort since 2023, aggravated a disc injury in September 2025 during training.

Later that month, he went into a nine-month rehabilitation period after the Tokyo World Championships, and returned in June.

He had qualified for the Diamond League finals set for Brussels next month.

“My focus now is on recovering well and coming back even stronger,” Chopra added.

The Tokyo Olympic champion, Chopra, and his successor in Paris, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, faced each other in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September last year.

However, the highly anticipated clash of the South Asian titans failed to gain momentum in the sold-out Japan National Stadium, where Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago won his maiden world title.