Lausanne Diamond League: Neeraj Chopra warms up for Asian Games with season-best throw

Neeraj Chopra produced a season-best 88.05m throw to finish second at the Lausanne Diamond League. The performance offers timely momentum as he builds towards defending his Asian Games title next month.

In Short

• The Indian javelin thrower looked sharper with every major outing this season
• Rumesh Pathirage edged the field again, continuing his strong recent run
• Neeraj produced a throw of more than 88m for the first time in more than a year

If the Commonwealth Games was seen as progress for Neeraj Chopra, then the Lausanne Diamond League can be viewed as a statement and a step in the right direction for the Indian ace. Neeraj produced his season-best throw of 88.05 m to finish second at the Lausanne Diamond League.

Once again, it was Rumesh Pathirage who continued his fine form to clinch the top spot with a throw of 88.14m. Grenada's Anderson Pieters finished third with a season-best performance of 86.69m ahead of Keshorn Walcott in fourth.

This will serve as a great preparation for the Indian ace as he looks to defend his Asian Games crown in Japan next month.

A DIFFERENT NEERAJ ON DISPLAY

"Although we always want the National anthem to play, I did my season's best and the comeback is going okay. There are other competitions as well. I am happy."

These were the words of Neeraj right after winning the silver medal at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. While we don't often celebrate silvers in our country, it truly felt like a moment of jubiliance for the fans of the javelin star.

For months, he was struggling with injury and a lot of changes to his coaching staff also happened. He went back to his roots and decided to find a new way to return to the top. On

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