Neeraj Chopra has won it all. An Olympic gold, an Olympic silver, a world championship, an Asian Games gold, Diamond League. However, the dreaded 90-meter mark still eludes the 26-year-old. (More Sports News)
Neeraj thought he would be able to cross the barrier at the Paris Olympics, but fell short. His Pakistani counterpart Arshad Nadeem won the gold with two of his throws easily going above the 90m mark. Neeraj's only valid throw of the night could only fetch him silver with a distance of 89.45m.
As Neeraj has started training again in view of the upcoming Lausanne Diamond League, which begins August 22, he has left the results in the hand of God.
"I need to leave it to gods now," he said when asked about his target throw in the foreseeable future.
"I Just want to prepare well and see where the javelin goes. There has already been talk about 90m, now I feel just let it be. In Paris, I thought it would happen and it could have happened.
"Now I will give my 100 percent in the next two or three events and see what happens," he said in a virtual interaction arranged by JSW.
India's only Olympic champion in track and field events, Neeraj believes he can still increase the distance but for that his body will have to help.
"I felt I could increase the distance. My two no throws in qualification and final, they were second and third best throws and my season best as well. To increase distance I need to be injury free.
"In my mind I know need to give 100 percent but because of the injury I am not able to give 100 percent. My body and mind stops me from making that extra effort.
"What is most important in training session is throwing sessions which I have not been able to do as much as I would like (due to injury). If you can't throw regularly then you are not able to work on your technique. I need to throw as much as I can. The rest is all fine," said Chopra.
Neeraj, who currently training in Switzerland decoded that his line of the javelin was not perfect in Paris.
"When we run with the javelin there is also lot of strain on groin, when we take cross step. But right now I am not able to tweak my technique. Also my line of the javelin was also not perfect.
He also said that even after Nadeem had broken the Olympic record throwing 92.97m, the Indian never thought the match was over.
"Arc speed was good in Paris but the line was disturbed. If it would be straighter, I could have got two three metres out of it. However, not for once I thought that Arshad's throw could not be bettered. My mind was ready to push the limits but body was not," said the champion athlete.
Chopra needs to finish in the top-six of Diamond League Meetings series to qualify for the season finale in Brussels.
"I came to Switzerland for training ahead of Diamond League. Luckily I did not aggravate my injury as I took extra care of that. I thought of continuing my season like most other athletes. There is one month to go for season end. I will go to the doctors in free time," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
