Two weeks after bagging a historic silver medal at the Paris Olympics, star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will return to action at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting on Thursday as he hopes to reclaim the DL trophy at the season-ending finale next month.

Nursing a long-standing groin injury, the 26-year-old Chopra left a decision on a possible surgery for the end of the season, as he resumed his training in Switzerland a few days after the Paris Games, where he finished second with a season best effort of 89.45m to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (92.97m).

Chopra was the Diamond League champion in 2022 and finished second behind Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic in the winner-takes-all DL final in Eugene, USA, last year. This season’s DL finals will be held in Brussels on September 14. He needs to finish in the top six of the Diamond League meetings series standings to qualify for the season finale.

The Indian is currently positioned fourth in the standings with the seven points he collected after finishing second behind Vadlejch in the Doha Diamond League on May 10. He has a chance to improve further as there’s another DL meeting in Zurich on September 5, which also has a men’s javelin throw event on its roster.

After the Olympic Games in Paris, Chopra returned to Switzerland to continue his training despite being bothered by a niggle in his groin. The Panipat-born also said that he will return home only after another month, and then will take a call on undergoing surgery. He has been managing his groin injury since winning the gold in the Budapest World Championships last year.

“I came to Switzerland for training ahead of the Diamond League. Luckily, I did not aggravate my injury and I took extra care of that. I thought of continuing my season like most other athletes. There is one month to go until the season ends. I will go to the doctor in my free time,” he had said on Saturday.

In Lausanne, Chopra will be competing against a star-studded field with five of the top-six finishers in the Paris Olympics final in the fray. The only one missing from the list is Arshad Nadeem.

Nadeem had finished fourth in the Paris Diamond League on July 7 with a throw of 84.21m. That was the only DL meeting he had taken part in this season. He is currently at sixth spot in the standings with five points.

Pushed to the fourth spot with a throw of 88.50m in Paris, Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, currently tops the DL list, and will be keen to maintain his form in his bid to defend the DL title.

After a poor last season, two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada will be riding high on the bronze in the Paris Olympics with 88.54m. Peters, who is positioned second in the DL standings, could be aiming for his career’s third 90+ throw. Germany’s Julian Weber is at the third spot, followed by Chopra.