CHENNAI: Days before Doha Diamond League, there were speculations whether Neeraj Chopra would be part of the competition on Friday evening. The first teaser did not mention his name but had the latest sensation from Sri Lanka Rumesh Pathirage and a host of others including Anderson Peters of Granada and Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago. The javelin throw line-up seemed to be missing a name.
Neeraj has not competed since the World Championships in Tokyo last year and has been nursing injuries since. Training in Olympic Training Centre in Bienne (Switzerland), the Tokyo Olympic champion and double Olympic medallist kept a very low profile in the lead up to his season opener. The 29-year-old javelin thrower changed his coach Jan Zelezny and has gone back to Indian coach Jai Chaudhary, who had seen him compete since his early days. He has decided to train on his own.
However, Neeraj revealed that he had always targeted Doha DL but was not sure until the last moment. He confessed as much during the press conference on Thursday. He said that he was in touch with Doha DL and had asked them if he could finalise his name in the last moment, a week ahead of the competition and that was the reason why his name featured recently.
However, for Neeraj, the focus would be to remain fit and throw well in the season opener. He would face tough competition from Rumesh, who is the world leader with a throw of 92.62m. Though Peters is second in the SB column, his distance is a modest 86.08m.
Neeraj also revealed that he had to delay his season because of injuries and he started throwing only one and half months ago. He spoke about the Tokyo world championships where he finished eighth saying it was a bad decision to compete with an injury. "I had some injury last year before Tokyo," he said. "I competed and that was not a good decision because I knew I was injured. That was my last competition."
It did not stop with the back injury and Neeraj said that he had more than one since. "In our lives, we have this injury and we try to save that injury and then we have another one. I injured my ankle and somewhere in the shoulder then I sat together with my team, my physio to find a remedy. I started throwing one-and-a-half months ago."
Neeraj said that Doha was his favourite place to compete. "I was happy to throw 90m, my first time above 90m and Julian (Weber) threw more than me. I felt good for him because he also took some time to throw over 90m. He threw 88m in 2016 in front of me. We were both happy together."
Technically he felt that throw was not that good. "I watched that video quite a few times," he said "It was fast from my hand but if I could use the lower body more I could have thrown two-three metres more."
Neeraj also spoke about the philosophy behind parting ways with German legend Zelezny. "He was a very good coach also," he said. "Last year after Tokyo we decided. We worked on specific things and I had to stay at one place for a long time that was not possible. After Tokyo I decided to work with my ideas. Now I work with an Indian coach. He is my senior and he knows my story for the last 15-16 years. Now we work on my technique which originally came from me when I started. We are not working on anything specific. I was talking to him and told him that you know me and let's work together."
Though it is not a world championships year, Neeraj said that the Commonwealth Games will be as tough as the world championships or Olympics because of the field. Rumesh, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, Peters and Walcott all of them have thrown over 90m.
"Mentally a bit more relaxed because you are not working for the world championships but physically we always push ourselves to give our best every time on the field," he said. "The Commonwealth and Asian Games will be there for us. the Commonwealth will not be less than the Olympics or the World Championships."
Interestingly, the ace javelin thrower has to clear the 2026 CWG qualification mark of 82.61m and Doha could be the place.
