Federation Cup: Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra to compete before home fans after three years

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopras presence will turn the Federation Cup starting Sunday into a highprofile domestic competition though several top athletes have decided to skip the fourday Senior ChampionshipsThe 26yearold Chopra will be competing in a domestic event for the first time in three years after featuring in the 2021 edition of the same eventIt will also be the first time that Chopra will compete in India after winning a historic gold in Tokyo Olympics in 2021Chopra last took part in a domestic competition at the same Federation Cup in March 2021 when he won a gold with a throw of 8780mSince then he has mostly been training and competing abroad accumulating silverwares and titlesHe became a world champion won three individual Diamond League titles one DL champions trophy and defended his Asian Games gold in ChinaThe superstar Indian who is hoping to defend his Olympic gold during the Paris Games is heading to India from Doha where he began his season with a secondplace finish in the Diamond League with an impressive final round throw of 8836m on FridayFor me more important is my sport Its good for my profile if I play in India Chopra saidBefore Tokyo Olympics I always trained in India but right now I just want to focus on my game I will train in India later he addedAlso Read Javelin champ Chopra wants to breach 90m barrier in DohaSome of the top athletes including the likes of shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor would also be looking to either breach the Paris Olympics qualifying mark or gain valuable ranking pointsAsian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena whose Diamond League debut in Doha on Friday ended in disappointment with a ninthplace finish will also compete in the event and so as DP Manu who had finished sixth in the 2023 World ChampionshipsAll eyes at the Kalinga Stadium will be on the javelin throw event As per the schedule the mens javelin qualifying round will be held on May 14 and the final will take place on May 15Asian Games medallists Avinash Sable mens 3000m steeplechase Jyothi Yarraji womens 100m hurdles Parul Chaudhary womens 3000m steeplechase Annu Rani womens javelin throw and Harmilan Bains womens 800m and 1500m are among top athletes who are skipping the event as they are training abroadAlso missing from the lost are national record holder 100m sprinter Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain 200m as they are training and competing abroadIn the mens 400m Amoj Jacob Muhammed Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh who were part of the Indian 4x400m squad that qualified for the Paris Olympics during the World Relays in Bahamas recently have entered the fray The participation of Ramesh though could be doubtful after he sustained muscle cramps in BahamasAsian record holder shot putter Toor would be looking to breach the Olympic qualifying mark of 2150m after he began his outdoor season with 1982m effort at the National Throws meetJeswin Ardrin who has been inconsistent in the past one year will be the favourite to win the mens long jump gold in the absence of injured Murali Sreeshankar Aditya Kumar Singh the latest entrant in the 8m club has also entered his nameThe mens triple jump could see the battle of supremacy between national record holder Praveen Chitravel and Abdulla Aboobacker while reigning Commonwealth Games champion Eldhose Paul who won title recently in a German event opted outIn the womens section the long jump pit could see another duel between Nayana James and Shaili Singh after the India Open Jumps Competition in March Ancy Sojan is missing from actionThe quartermile race will see M R Poovamma Jyothika Sri Dandi Subha Venkatesan ad Vithya Ramraj members of Indias 4x400m relay squad that booked a Paris Games berth taking partHima Das who returned to action at the Indian Grand Prix 1 last month after getting clearance for whereabouts failure is not taking part in the event She pulled out midway in the 200m race at that event in BengaluruWith agency inputs