World Championship gold, 90m targets for Neeraj Chopra, seeks to remain injury free ahead of Paris Olympics

World Championship gold, 90m targets for Neeraj Chopra, seeks to remain injury free ahead of Paris Olympics

Winning gold in the World Championships in August and breaching the “magical” 90m mark are Neeraj Chopra’s targets this year as the star javelin thrower seeks to stay injury free in view of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Chopra, who begins his season at the Doha leg of the prestigious Diamond League Meetings on May 5, had won a silver in the 2022 World Championships in USA, a year after clinching a historic gold in the Tokyo Olympics.

“It is going to be a long season this time, the Asian Games (javelin event) is going to be in October. I will try to stay away from injury, hoping for a successful as well healthy season,” Chopra said from his current base in Turkey during a virtual interaction.

“I want to win gold in the World Championships in Hungary but there is no pressure whether I do it this time or later. I need to be better technically this year as the season is long,” said the 25-year-old, who is currently training at the Gloria Sports Arena in Antalya, Turkey since April 1.

Talking about the Paris Olympics, he said, “There will be expectation and more pressure to win gold in Paris, so I will be even better prepared than Tokyo Olympics when I go to Paris.

“But hopefully, with the learning and experience from all these years, I hope I will be able to maintain myself, be consistent and get better every time I compete. Of course, the Tokyo gold will motivate me do better in Paris. I will work harder to do even better than Tokyo.”

He said as compared to last year, he is in a better condition at this point in time physically and technically. Last year, he did not take part in the Doha Diamond League and began his season only in June at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland, one month later than this time.