{"id":23895,"date":"2026-06-20T01:29:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/neeraj-chopra-misses-podium-as-rumesh-pathirage-wins-doha-diamond-league-title-more-sports-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T01:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T19:59:26","slug":"neeraj-chopra-misses-podium-as-rumesh-pathirage-wins-doha-diamond-league-title-more-sports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/neeraj-chopra-misses-podium-as-rumesh-pathirage-wins-doha-diamond-league-title-more-sports-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Neeraj Chopra misses podium as Rumesh Pathirage wins Doha Diamond League title | More sports News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131866224,imgsize-87698,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/neeraj-chopra-classic-2025.jpg\" alt=\"Neeraj Chopra misses podium as Rumesh Pathirage wins Doha Diamond League title\" title=\"India's Neeraj Chopra (PTI Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"India's Neeraj Chopra (PTI Photo)\">India&#8217;s Neeraj Chopra (PTI Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Indian javelin star <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/neeraj-chopra\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Neeraj Chopra<\/a>\u2019s long-awaited return to competition ended with a fourth-place finish at the Doha Diamond League 2026 on Friday, as Sri Lanka\u2019s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage continued his remarkable rise by claiming victory in a high-quality field.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/> Making his first appearance in nearly eight months after recovering from a back injury, Chopra showed flashes of his best form but ultimately fell short of a podium finish. The 28-year-old produced a season-opening best of 85.69 metres in his third attempt, which eventually left him fourth in the final standings.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"7\"\/> The evening did not begin smoothly for the former Olympic champion. Chopra opened with a foul throw before gradually settling into rhythm. <!-- -->After shaking off the rust, he delivered his best effort in the third round, a throw of 85.69 metres that briefly lifted him into the top three.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/> He followed it up with an attempt of 83.45 metres in the fourth round and remained firmly in contention heading into the fifth. However, with the leading trio pushing beyond the 85-metre mark, Chopra required a throw in excess of 86 metres to maintain his place among the top three and advance to the final round.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/> Instead, he registered another foul throw, ending his challenge and dropping to fourth place as only the top three competitors progressed to the decisive final attempts.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/> While the result fell short of his expectations, Chopra still achieved an important objective. His 85.69-metre effort comfortably surpassed the Athletics Federation of India\u2019s Commonwealth Games qualification standard of 82.61 metres, strengthening his preparations for Glasgow 2026. <!-- -->The Indian star has already been named in the country\u2019s 32-member squad for the Games, scheduled from July 23 to August 2.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/> At the top of the standings, Pathirage once again underlined why he is the current world leader. Fresh from his stunning 92.62-metre throw at the Rome Diamond League earlier this month, the Sri Lankan produced a winning effort of 88.68 metres to secure the title.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"23\"\/> Grenada\u2019s Anderson Peters finished second with a best throw of 86.38 metres, while American Curtis Thompson claimed third place with 85.99 metres.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/> For Chopra, the Doha meet represented an encouraging first step after a lengthy injury layoff. Although a podium finish proved elusive, the Indian javelin ace showed enough promise to suggest he will be a major contender as the season progresses towards the Commonwealth Games and other major championships later this year.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/more-sports\/athletics\/neeraj-chopra-misses-podium-as-rumesh-pathirage-wins-doha-diamond-league-title\/articleshow\/131866237.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India&#8217;s Neeraj Chopra (PTI Photo) Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra\u2019s long-awaited return to competition ended with a fourth-place finish at the Doha Diamond League 2026 on Friday, as Sri Lanka\u2019s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage continued his remarkable rise by claiming victory in a high-quality field. Making his first appearance in nearly eight months after recovering from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}