Neeraj Chopra is going to Tokyo. On his comeback from year-long hiatus due to an elbow injury, Neeraj Chopra punched his ticket for the Tokyo Olympics in Japan with victory at the Athletics Central North East meet in South Africa.

Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra marked his name on the list of athletes that have qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics after he breached the qualification mark with a throw of 87.86m at the Athletics Central North East meet in South Africa.  

Neeraj Chopra, who missed the entire 2019 season due to elbow injury, punched his ticket to Tokyo Olympics in the men's javelin. The 22-year-old from Haryana, placed first overall with a throw of 87.86. meters on his fourth attempt. The effort surpassed the qualifying standard of 85 meters for the Tokyo Olympics, which begin Jul. 24 in Japan. The national record-holder in Javelin had undergone a surgery in May 2019 to treat the injury. He was expected to compete at the National Championship late last year but the AFI didn’t give him clearance, allowing him more time to heal.

He had missed the IAAF World Championships, the Diamond League and the Asian Championships while recovering from the injury. On his comeback, Neeraj was determined to meet the standard and decided to push a bit harder in the fourth attempt said, “I’m happy with the result as I went in to the competition with mindset to warm-up for the season.” Once I did well with the first three throws (all being above 80m), I decided to push a bit harder in the fourth attempt, he further added.