Javelin ace Chopra to resume international career on Thursday

New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) Tokyo Olympic Games bound javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is expected to resume his international season on Thursday in Portugal, said a athletics coach."He France on Sunday and shall travel to compete in Lisbon on Thursday. Since the situation is changing rapidly due to the pandemic, the next competition is not planned yet," the coach told IANS.Due to the pandemic, elite Indian athletes, including Chopra, 23, couldn't travel to Europe in April. Chopra's last international event was the South African domestic tournament in Potchefstroom in January last year. With a throw of 87.86m, he bettered the Tokyo Olympic Games qualifying mark of 85m.Chopra, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games champion, was supposed to leave for Europe for a training-cum-competition stint last week. But his travel plans were rescheduled as the French interior ministry didn't issue an authorisation letter to travel, Sports Authority of India (SAI) had said."The Indian thrower along with foreign coach Klaus Bartonietz and physio Issan Marwah will be based out of Lievin, in northern France, for a fortnight and then move to other parts of Europe for training and competition," said the coach.In March, Chopra improved his national record to 88.07m during a domestic meet in Patiala.-
--IANS nns/qma