Had put on weight after Tokyo: Neeraj Chopra

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, March 20

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who has taken a short break after three months of training in the USA, says he’s in no rush to get back to the physical shape that saw him win gold at last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games. “Lage hue hain abhi, dobara training start kar diya hai,” Chopra said at an awards event here on Saturday night.

“At Chula Vista (training base in California), I was working on getting back to the same shape I was in at Tokyo. I was working on improving my core strength, running and jumps. I was slowly starting to improve my strength, and working on perfecting my javelin technique. There’s still time till the World Championships. Not trying to rush into getting as fit as I was at Tokyo,” he said.

Chopra’s first target this year is the World Championships, starting on July 15 in Eugene, USA.

He would also be defending his titles at this year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

“Training in US conditions will be advantageous for the World Championships, since it’ll happen in the US. There’s a big time difference between India and the US, so training there will help,” he said. “The primary need is to get fit and get back to that level again.”

Chopra lost crucial training and competition time after the Tokyo Olympics as his feat was celebrated across the country with countless felicitations.

“What was different for me while training in US was that I had never been away from training for so long since I started competing. That was a little challenging for me,” he said. “My weight had increased. To get myself back to the same level of fitness… I used to get tired physically, so had to push myself mentally. So that was a challenge. But I enjoyed that,” he said about the time he restarted training.”

“If we’re talking about only losing weight, that can be done. But regaining the same strength or speed or flexibility (is the challenge) along with having the same technique,” he added. “That is what takes time. It took me two to three months to work on these things. Even now there’s a lot of scope for improvement.” — , agencies

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