90m is just the beginning: Neeraj Chopra

NEW DELHI: Neeraj Chopra possesses distinctive qualities that separate him from other athletes. His demeanour reflects modesty, exceptional sportsmanship and a pleasant disposition. Neeraj stands as India’s most accomplished Olympic sport athlete today. His achievements in javelin throw encompass victories across all major international competitions, including the Olympics, World championships, Asian Games, CWG and Diamond League meets. Following his historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, which established him as a global sporting icon, the 90m-mark remained his sole unconquered milestone. This changed on Friday evening at the Diamond League in Doha, where he registered an impressive 90.23m throw in his third attempt. Declaring “90m is just the beginning”, he said he is focusing on achieving greater distances in forthcoming competitions, particularly targeting the World Championships in Tokyo from Sep 13-21. “I am ready to throw farther…it’s just the beginning for me. There’s a long season ahead. With the 90m target achieved, the aim would be to go as farther as possible. I’ll look to throw more than 90m in the coming events till the Worlds,” Neeraj said following his brilliant season-opening performance in Doha. The reigning World and Asian Games champion said he felt sharper, fitter and energetic coming into the meet, after having been troubled by a nagging groin injury for many years, including the Paris Games. “I feel sharper and quicker in my follow through. I have always been troubled by my groin injury in the last few years. I wasn’t able to give my best because of that. This year, I am feeling good about myself and my throws. I am quite confident of bettering my Friday night’s effort in the future competitions,” he said. Talking about Czech javelin legend Jan Zelezny, who has been working with the Indian since Nov last year, the 27-year-old said the coach had told him beforehand — “today is the day to achieve 90m”. “When I was having warm-up throws my coach said, ‘Today is the day when you can throw 90m’. Even after my 90m throw, he told me ‘You can throw 2-3m farther’. We are still working on some aspects of my throw. I am happy to have him by my side,” he added.