Express News Service
CHENNAI: Olympic and world champions are the rarest breeds in the country. One athlete, who has made this his own, and with poise, is Neeraj Chopra. The newly-crowned world champ Neeraj did get a bit of stage fright in the first throw of the World Championships final on Sunday but came back in the second to get that 88.17m to edge past Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem to gold. In the process, the two created another India-Pakistan rivalry that is bound to stay for a while. It may be something delectable for the fans, but for the players, it’s pressure. Though Neeraj is trying not to think about it too much yet, somehow feels it is there to stay and such pressure could help him dodge more intense competitions in the future. But for now, Neeraj hopes to take it easy, and stay healthy and injury-free.
Despite starting well, this season was disrupted a bit due to injury and he would want to stay injury-free and perform well. Neeraj started his training early and travelled from England, South Africa, Turkey to Switzerland and Germany for training. “For this year the world championships has been the biggest competition,” he said. “The plan was different in the beginning of the season. I wanted to compete at different competitions but as you all know that I have missed three competitions in between because of the groin strain that I had. Even now I have to be cautious. I did not want to get injured here (in Budapest) and that thing was in the back of my mind. Though the plan was different but even this worked for me. We trained in Switzerland and then in Germany before that in Turkey. Most of the competitions are held in Europe so we can save a lot of time in traveling and can restart the training after the competitions.”
India vs Pak rivalry
On one hand, if Neeraj has both the Olympics and the world title, Arshad has thrown above 90m. The Pakistan thrower missed most of the season this year due to elbow injury and Worlds was his first major competition. The way things are panning out, the Asian Games could be the big stage where the India-Pakistan rivalry will be reignited. Even Neeraj is aware of that.
“A new India and Pakistan rivalry,” he said during a late-night interaction with the media from Budapest. “I don’t use mobile before competitions but I just checked for a brief while and saw India vs Pakistan. But if you look at the sport, the European athletes are very dangerous and at any moment they can throw big. Not just Arshad (Nadeem) even Yakub (Vadlejch) and Weber are good throwers. We have to think about every thrower until the last throw. Yes, India vs Pakistan is always riveting there. It’s good but when you are at a global stage, our focus is on other athletes also. This will be good because we have the Asian Games.”
Neeraj also mentioned that he felt good for the Pakistan athlete and they talked about the two countries’ rise in javelin. “I was happy that Arshad had a good throw,” he said. “When we met he was happy that both countries are growing in javelin. Earlier, Europeans used to do well but now we are winning ahead of them. That’s very good for our countries. People usually create pressure by calling it India vs Pakistan but if I can handle that pressure then competing in other competitions (Olympics and worlds) will be easier. I think there will be more pressure at the Asian Games because of India vs Pakistan rivalry that fans have created. For the time being I would like to take it easy. And I would like to keep myself healthy and without injury.”
On how other athletes motivate him, he said it’s about the competitive spirit. “When you are out of competition you have to feel good but when you are in the competition you have to focus on yourself. Even today I thought I would throw well and until the last throw, I believed I could throw well. But I was a little cautious because of the injury that I had and keeping that in mind I had to push myself (because of the competition on the ground). Since I have won gold I am really very happy. Hopefully, next competition I will do well and next year at the Paris Olympics I should do well. I am really happy that Kishore Jena did his personal best and even DP Manu threw well. It is a great achievement for India that both of them finished in the top six. What seemed exceptional is that in such a big competition they have performed well. It is a big thing that they gave their best.”
On whether he was the greatest of all time…
I don’t think I will say that I am the greatest of all time because there’s always some effort left to perform better. Everyone used to say that world championships gold was left but I feel even now I have to improve a lot. The greatest of all time is perhaps like Zelezsny. But what is heartening is that we can see a lot of potential in India. It feels good to know that people are following athletics. I don’t want to say too much about this because I have to do more.
Finding that push will always remain for Neeraj. “If other competitors are doing well, we have to push ourselves. Even after the second throw I was trying to push myself because I was expecting a better throw. But you all know that there is so much of pressure there is some shortcoming in technique or speed. In qualification round, you have to push and we had a day gap between recovery and that too was a big factor. Final depends on how you recover within that period. I always think that until the last throw I can do well.
The main thing is training and we focus on that. When we are in competition we feel the event and think that today is the championship and we will get this opportunity after two years. So we should not leave any stone unturned and in Olympics, you think you will get this opportunity after four years. So those things spur you on. It feels good to see that so many people are supporting you.”
Difference between the Olympic medal and the World Championship?
Two feelings are different. The Olympics had a very special feeling. World championships in its own right is a very big title. Worlds are always tougher than the Olympics because all are top athletes and they come well prepared. The good thing about today was that not just I won but there were two Indians who had done well. I was talking to Adill (Sumariwalla) sir (AFI president) about preparing a Mondo track in India. It’s really good that new athletes have come and are doing well. This has given us new hope. We will do well at the next Olympics. Sometimes athletes have great preparation but something eludes them. It is very disheartening for the athletes but I was telling them that they should not think too much about it but find where they have erred and that should not happen again. We have to take these in their strides. Really very good the way AFI, TOPS and others are supporting the athletes. We are going to do well.
What keeps motivating you?
In our game we have throws and there is a saying that throwers don’t have a finishing line. No matter how many medals you win you can keep pushing yourselves for the next best throw. There are a lot of athletes who have won a lot of medals but you have to keep pushing yourselves. Hope to shine more in the world.
90m mental hurdle?
Everything was going on very well but the groin injury was a setback. But thought this year I would be able to do it. I have this to time. From 2018 I have been throwing 88m and it was very close to 90m last year. Don’t know when that 90m will come. I have come very close to 90m and I hope that day will come when I cross it. I will not think about it much. In between I thought about it but I believe medals are more important than throws. Even here there were 90m throwers. But I believe in consistency more than others. When I throw 90m I will try to keep its consistency.
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