Birmingham(PTI): Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has pulled out of the Commonwealth Games due to "fitness concerns", the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced on Tuesday.

Chopra had won a historic silver medal at the World Athletics Championship in Eugene on Sunday and suffered a strain in his groin during the competition.

IOA Secretary General Rajiv Mehta said the reigning Olympic champion has been advised rest for one month.

"Team India javelin thrower Mr. Neeraj Chopra had called me earlier today from the US to convey his inability to take part in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games owing to fitness concern," Mehta said.

"Following his participation in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Mr. Chopra had had an MRI scan done on Monday and, based on it, he has been advised a month's rest by his medical team," Mehta added.

The 24-year-old had become only the second Indian athlete to win a medal at World Championship, after Anju Bobby George, who won a bronze medal in long jump at the 2003 World Championship held in Paris.

Chopra was expected to be India's flag bearer at the Games, starting Thursday.

"We have a meeting later in the day to decide the new flag-bearer," India team's chef de mission Rajesh Bhandari told PTI.

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Kasaragod: The Government Medical College, which recently secured the National Medical Commission’s approval, admitted its first MBBS student on Monday, with Gurwinder Singh from Alwar in Rajasthan becoming the first of the 50 students in the inaugural batch of the College.

Singh received a warm welcome into the College with sweets by Principal-in-Charge Dr. KK Santosh Kumar and Medical Superintendent Dr Praveen. The admission procedure was formally completed with the recording of his attendance, reports On Manorama.

The College has seven seats reserved for candidates from the All-India rank list, and Singh qualified for a seat in the College under the All-India Medical Entrance quota.

Unlike the other government medical colleges in the state, where classes started this week after the admission of students during the first round of counseling, the Kasaragod Medical College had to wait for approval from the National Medical Commission. The College received the approval and began enrolling students after conclusion of counseling.

The classes will begin on September 30, after completion of Phase 2 of allotment. The first batch students are currently provided temporary hostel facilities at Cherkkala.

While the second student under the All-India rank list is expected to join the College today, the authorities have said they cannot guarantee how long the new students will remain, adding that some students may opt to move to other colleges if they are allotted seats there.