India’s biggest medal hope at the Commonwealth Games 2026 appears to have received the all-clear. After months of questions over his fitness, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has been declared in “perfect shape” by India’s chief athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair ahead of the Glasgow Games, where the javelin superstar will look to reclaim the Commonwealth title he last won eight years ago.
Neeraj, who arrived in Glasgow on Friday with the Indian athletics contingent, has endured a disrupted season after suffering a lower back injury shortly before the 2025 World Athletics Championships. The injury restricted him to just one competitive appearance in 2026, where he finished fourth at the Doha Diamond League with a best throw of 85.69 metres.
Those limited appearances had fuelled concerns over whether the 28-year-old would enter the Commonwealth Games at full fitness.
According to Nair, those doubts can now be put to rest.
“Chopra is in perfect shape physically. I have not seen him so good in a long time. He is very confident and we can expect a very good performance from him,” Nair told PTI. “I need not tell you the colour of the medal but he is very confident of doing his best.”
A return to unfinished business
Glasgow presents Neeraj with an opportunity to complete unfinished business. The Indian javelin ace won Commonwealth gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Games with a throw of 86.47 metres but missed Birmingham 2022 because of injury, allowing Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem to seize the title with a Games-record throw of 90.18 metres.
This year’s contest is expected to be the most competitive Commonwealth javelin final in history.
Neeraj vs Arshad but not only them
While the Neeraj-Arshad rivalry continues to dominate headlines, Glasgow’s field stretches well beyond South Asia’s two biggest names.
Arshad Nadeem enters as defending Commonwealth champion despite struggling with injuries of his own over the past year. Like Neeraj, the Pakistani has competed only once this season, finishing ninth at the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Switzerland without breaching the 80-metre mark.
The event will also feature former world champions Anderson Peters of Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott, while Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage arrives as the season leader after producing a stunning 92.62-metre throw earlier this year.
India will also field Rohit Yadav, who crossed 87 metres last month, alongside Yash Vir Singh.
India banking on its biggest athletics star
Neeraj remains the face of Indian athletics heading into Glasgow.
He will lead an Indian track and field squad carrying significant medal expectations, particularly after the country managed only one medal during the opening stages of the Games.
His qualification event is scheduled for July 30 at Scotstoun Stadium, with the medal round taking place a day later.
If Nair’s assessment proves accurate, India’s biggest athletics star could finally be ready to reignite one of world sport’s most compelling rivalries with Commonwealth gold once again on the line.