Tokyo, Sept. 16 -- India's Olympic medalist and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will kickstart his title defence at the ongoing World Athletics Championships when he plays the men's javelin throw qualifiers in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The medal clash is scheduled for Thursday. Neeraj's clash with Pakistani arch-rival and reigning Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem will be one of the major highlights of the competition.

Back in 2023, when Neeraj became the first Indian to secure a World Championships gold medal with a throw of 88.17 m in Budapest, it was Arshad who ended up as silver medalist with a throw of 87.82 m, as per Olympics.com. With the Pakistani outshining Neeraj with an Olympic record throw of 92.97 m to capture the ...