In a setback for fans, Indian javelin thrower and reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra has withdrawn from the upcoming Ostrava Golden Spike athletics meet in Czechia on May 28.

The organizers of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold label event confirmed on Saturday that Chopra felt something in his adductor muscle during training a couple of weeks ago, prompting his withdrawal as a precautionary measure.

However, the 26-year-old superstar will still attend the 63rd edition of the annual competition as a guest.

“I have had problems with it in the past and pushing it at this stage can lead to injury. Just to clarify, I am not injured but I don’t want to take any risk during the Olympic year so had to take this decision. Once I feel it’s fully recovered, I will get back to competitions,” Neeraj Chopra said.

Chopra’s withdrawal has led to the organizers replacing him with Germany’s Julian Weber in the men’s javelin throw event. The field will still feature several top contenders, including home favorite Jakub Vadlejch, the Tokyo 2020 silver medalist and reigning Diamond League and Golden Spike champion, as well as former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.

This marks the second successive year that Neeraj Chopra has had to pull out of the Ostrava Golden Spike due to injury concerns. He was also listed to compete last year but could not do so because of a muscle injury.

The Ostrava meet was supposed to be Chopra’s third competitive outing of the season as he builds up to defend his Olympic title at the Paris 2024 Games. He had started his season at the Doha Diamond League on May 11, where he finished second with a throw of 88.36m, just 2cm behind eventual winner Vadlejch.

Chopra also competed at the Federation Cup athletics meet in Bhubaneswar earlier this month, winning the gold medal with a modest throw of 82.27m. He is now expected to take part in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 18.