A tired Neeraj Chopra hopes to remain injury-free

Neeraj will now continue to train in Switzerland before flying off to Eugene, United States for the September 16-17 Diamond League Finals to defend his gold.

Having competed in back-to-back events and with two major competitions coming up, Neeraj Chopra is a busy man, pushing the limits of his battered body. After winning a historic javelin throw gold at the World Athletics Championships last Sunday in Budapest, Chopra chose not to rest on his laurels and instantly flew out to Zurich where on Thursday he won a silver. This despite the 25-year old battling sore throat and minor illness.

The reigning Olympic gold medallist will now continue to train in Switzerland before flying off to Eugene, United States for the September 16-17 Diamond League Finals to defend his gold. And then he will make the long flight from the US to Hangzhou for the Asian Games which kicks off on September 23. The athletics competitions start on September 29 with the javelin final slated for October 4 where Chopra is the defending champion.

For any competitor, this is an extremely punishing schedule and Chopra admitted he is fatigued but is prepared to give it his all. “Technically there were three competitions in a space of one week because even in qualification (at World Championships) we need to be at the top of our game,” said Chopra during a virtual media interaction organised by JSW Sports.

“I did not want to say this earlier because people may think it was an excuse but I was having cough and sore throat before the qualification round of the World Championships. I was still having problem in Zurich. My health was not 100 percent but I will be all right. An athlete's life is like that. Mentally I’m strong and that keeps me going. I will push myself to 100 percent in DL final in Eugene and the Asian Games.”

Chopra, who was bogged by shoulder pain and groin injury in the first half of the year that resulted in him skipping several events, said the impetus now is to remain injury-free.

“The most important thing is to save myself from injury. I need to remain healthy and injury-free so that I can repeat all my titles. I’ve figured out which competitions are important and which are not. So I push myself for important competitions.”

Chopra has confessed that he’s an admirer of great Jan Zelezny who won three Olympics and three World Championships titles. In fact, Chopra emulated the Czech by becoming the third javelin thrower to hold both the Olympic and World titles simultaneously. Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway is the other athlete to have accomplished it.

When asked if he would gunning for the gold at the Paris Olympics next year to replicate another Zelezny feat, Chopra said if he’s fit it’s totally possible. “My endeavour would be to defend my title. I will work extremely hard to achieve it. It was a big challenge to win the first title (in Tokyo), and it will be a bigger challenge to do (defend) it again because everybody will come prepared.

“There will be more pressure than Tokyo Olympics because there will be a lot more expectations than earlier, even I have my expectations. But the most important thing is to save myself from injury. I need to remain healthy and injury-free so that I can repeat all my titles."