CHENNAI: Coming back from injury is not always easy. No matter how good an athlete you are or how well one has recovered. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra too had such anxiety while competing after more than a month. Even as he clinched his second consecutive Diamond League title with an 87.66m throw in Lausanne, Neeraj has said that injury concerns made him contemplate whether or not to give it all during his event on Friday night in Switzerland. Neeraj, who usually tries to seal the best throw in his first two efforts, needed more than four to achieve the target.
In my mind, I was thinking about my injury when I started. There was a big question mark on whether I could push as hard as I wanted,” Neeraj said in a virtual media interaction on Monday. “It was cold. I was thinking, whether I could push myself or not. For the first 2-3 throws I wasn’t doing that. After that, I felt that I could do it. I got a little focused and warmed up. I spoke to the coach and he said I needed to speed up. After that, I started a bit further back on the runway and was able to get that throw.” The World No 1 javelin thrower was clear on what he wanted to achieve at Lausanne without giving his body and mind undue pressure. Put in the effort that is required to get the points to qualify for the Diamond League finals and not push more too hard. “If it were World Championships or Asian Games, I would probably have pushed myself more,” he said.
The fifth throw is not when Neeraj blooms. Yet that was what it is on Friday. While he acknowledged the desire to give it all in every throw, Neeraj was pragmatic while going through the ups and downs at an event. He said that if the first throw doesn’t work, he will have to keep himself ready until the final attempt. “I believe that until the last throw, I have the ability to make a good throw. In our event, you just have to do your best. You have to keep yourself positive. The rest depends on the competition.”
Barring the injury concerns, the 25-year-old reiterated that he has to work on it before the Worlds from August 19 to 27 in Budapest Hungary. “The plan is to be as fresh as possible for Worlds. It’s important to remain injury free but I have to work on my fitness, especially before the World Championships. I had to travel a bit because of the injury and as a result, had to reduce my training. Now, I have to push myself. I had focussed on the injury and now have to focus on my training,” he said. He said that he would want to win gold at the Worlds, a medal that is missing from his over-flowing cabinet. He would want to be fit and felt winning gold is very much possible. A short break and then back to training in Europe.