No Indo-Pak javelin showdown as Neeraj Chopra, Arshad Nadeem both withdraw from Silesia Diamond League
The two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj and Paris Olympics gold medal winner Nadeem's participation was first announced by the organisers of the Silesia Diamond League event in early July. However, the high-profile face-off was already in doubt after Nadeem underwent surgery on his right calf in London last month.
Nadeem's coach, Salman Butt, would then say it was unlikely the Paris Olympics gold medallist would compete in the Diamond League event. 'He (Nadeem) is more focused on preparing for the World Championships in Tokyo in September, which is why he decided to have the surgery on his calf muscle, which had been bothering him for a while now,' coach Salman Butt had said.
Now, with Neeraj skipping out of the event with the reasons for his absence still not clear, the Ind-Pak clash ended in a damp squib.
Neeraj has had a terrific 2025 athletics season. He began the year with a win at the Potch Invitational in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in April and followed it up with a second-place finish at the Doha Diamond League in May, where he recorded a new national record of 90.23m. Crucially, however, he entered the coveted 90m club.
He came second again at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland later that month but returned to winning ways at the Paris Diamond League in June with an 88.16m effort. Neeraj also added the Ostrava Golden Spike title to his name, which helped him reclaim the world number 1 rank in men's javelin throw.
After that, Neeraj also won the NC Classic in India, an event named after and hosted by him.
Both Neeraj and Nadeem are expected to face off at the World Athletics Championships 2025 scheduled in Tokyo, Japan, next month.
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