Let’s leave it to gods: Chopra on 90m throw

New Delhi, August 17

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Having missed out on breaching the elusive 90m mark at the Paris Games, two-time Olympics medallist Neeraj Chopra has left that widely debated matter “to the gods”. After all, Chopra has been chasing that milestone for years and the wait got longer when his only legal throw of 89.45m got him a silver at the Paris Olympics earlier this month.

A back-to-back medal at the Summer Games was a monumental feat for an Indian athlete but Chopra’s throw was way short of Arshad Nadeem’s sensational 92.97m that comfortably secured a historic gold for the Pakistani.

Nursing a long-standing groin injury, Chopra managed to be on the podium and now he will be seen in the Lausanne Diamond League starting August 22.

After a busy couple of days post the Olympics final on August 8, Chopra started training in Switzerland and is determined to finish the season on a high despite being restricted by injury.

“I need to leave it to gods now,” he said when asked about his target throw in the foreseeable future. “I Just want to prepare well and see where the javelin goes. There has already been talk about 90m, now I feel just let it be. In Paris, I thought it would happen and it could have happened. Now I will give my 100 per cent in the next two or three events and see what happens,” he said.

Following the season-ending Diamond League in Brussels on September 13-14, Chopra will consult the doctors on his groin injury with surgery being the most likely option. The 26-year-old has been managing the injury since winning gold in the World Championships last year.

With Arshad producing an Olympics record throw in the final, Chopra needed to up his game but he said he could not do that because of his physical state.

“I felt I could increase the distance. My two throws in qualification and final, they were second and third best throws and my season’s best as well. To increase distance I need to be injury-free. In my mind I know I need to give a 100 per cent but because of the injury I am not able to do that. My body and mind stops me from making that extra effort. What is most important in training is throwing sessions which I have not been able to do as much as I would have liked to. If you can’t throw regularly then you are not able to work on your technique. I need to throw as much as I can. The rest is all fine,” he said. — PTI