Chopra spears his way to Tokyo

New Delhi, January 29

Neeraj Chopra is back with a bang, throwing the javelin to 87.86 metres in an event in South Africa last night. This was the second-best throw of his career and it secured him a berth at this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games, his throw comfortably over the qualifying mark of 85m.

Chopra’s return augurs well in the Olympics year — he had won gold at the last event he competed in, the Asian Games in 2018. Last night’s event in Potchefstroom was his first competitive meet since then — he had missed the whole of the 2019 season due to a surgery on his throwing arm in May, which was followed by rehabilitation.

The Haryana lad, who joined the Army three years ago, had a right elbow arthroscopy surgery on May 2 last year. This was followed by rehabilitation at the National Institute of Sport in Patiala and the Inspire Institute of Sport in Vijayangar. In November, he moved to Potchefstroom in South Africa to train under Klaus Bartonietz, a German biomechanics expert.

No pressure

Chopra was suitably delighted by his big effort after a big layoff. “I am extremely pleased with the performance. Going into the competition, I did not try to put much pressure on myself and was keen to test myself out as it was my first meet in a long time,” Chopra said from Potchefstroom. “The warm-up throws went very well, and even though my first three throws were around the 81-82m mark, I felt there were some flaws I could work on.”

Fourth throw

At the meet held on Tuesday evening at the McArthur Stadium, Chopra registered throws of 81.63m, 82.00m and 82.57m in his first three attempts before unleashing the throw that earned him his Olympics qualification in the fourth round. His compatriot Rohit Yadav, who is training for the U20 World Championships later this year, had a best throw of 77.61m.

Incidentally, in his previous competition, the Asian Games, Chopra had won gold with his career-best throw of 88.06m.

Major target

Neeraj Chopra said though he did not put pressure on himself, it had been his target to qualify for Tokyo. “This was a major target for me during my rehab and I’m happy to have qualified,” the 22-year-old said. “I will now get back to my regular training here in Potchefstroom with my coach and physio in a few days’ time and continue my training towards the Olympics. I will look to compete more in the coming months and am looking forward to more high quality competition at the Federation Cup and the Diamond League circuit.”