India's Olympic gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra has decided to pull out of the Ostrava's Golden Spike meet starting from May 28, the organisers said in a statement. The star athlete remains India's top medal hope at the Paris Olympics 2024, and has withdrawn from the Ostrava event as a precautionary measure. (More Sports News)
Chopra had experienced discomfort in his adductor muscle after the Federation Cup in India and was expected to compete in Czech Republic but unfortunately he won't be taking part.
Taking to Instagram, Neeraj clarified that he does not want to risk anything especially with the Olympics around.
“Following a recent throwing session, I decided not to compete in Ostrava as I felt something in my adductor. I have had problems with it in the past and pushing it at this stage can lead to injury,” Neeraj shared on Instagram.
“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.”
The organisers of the event had put out a statement stating that the 26-year-old won't be part of the meet.
"Due to an injury that he sustained in training two weeks ago (adductor muscle) he will not be able to throw in Ostrava, but he will arrive at the event as a guest," said the organisers of the competition in a statement.
Chopra, the reigning Olympic and world champion, commenced his 2024 season on a strong note, clinching silver with an impressive throw of 88.36 metres at the Doha Diamond League on May 10.
He then made a return to domestic competition after almost three years, winning gold in the Federation Cup on May 15 with a throw of 82.27m, pushing DP Manu to second spot in Bhubaneswar.
Last year he had to go through injury pain when the javelin throw expert faced multiple issues. In May last year, Neeraj had sustained a muscle strain during training and to pull out of the FBK Games in Hengelo.
(With PTI inputs)
