I want more Indian athletes to compete in top tournaments: Neeraj Chopra after winning Diamond League title
Sep 09, 2022
Zurich [Switzerland], September 9 : After becoming the first-ever Indian to win the prestigious Diamond League trophy, a top-tier athletics competition, star Indian javelin throw athlete Neeraj Chopra said that balancing everything was difficult for him and he want more athletes from India to compete in top tournaments.
Chopra made history on Thursday, becoming the first-ever Indian to win the prestigious Diamond League trophy, a top-tier athletics competition, achieving the best throw of 88.44 m to clinch one of the biggest wins of his career.
"Last year was a very new experience for me, balancing was difficult, but I learned from last season," Chopra said in a virtual press conference.
"This time for the few commercial commitments I will give dates in advance. When the training time comes. I will not rest too much, will start training early, and will keep my weight in check by not eating much." The world championship silver medallist added,
"I started training late after Olympics. The biggest challenge was to regain fitness, I worked on techniques, worked on strength. I was very good technically this time. A javelin is a technical event, so it helped me this time," said the Tokyo Olympics champion.
Chopra has yet to breach the 90m mark, but he is least bothered by that fact as he feels winning matters the most.
"There is no 90m pressure on me, no disappointment, when it has to happen, it will happen. The important thing is World Athletics now takes note of Indian athletes and their performance," He added.
"I want more athletes from India to compete in top tournaments, a lot of teams from other countries were participating in the Diamond League Finals," he further added.
Talking about his history-creating victory, Chopra did not get off to a good start as his first attempt was declared a 'no throw'. Meanwhile, Jakub Vadlejch took the lead with a throw of 84.15 m.
Neeraj's best throw of 88.44 m came in his second attempt. He did not get off to a good start as his first attempt was declared a 'no throw'. Meanwhile, Jakub Vadlejch took the lead with a throw of 84.15 m.
Neeraj made his way back into the competition with a superb throw of 88.44 m in his second attempt, which pushed him to the top of the table. Vadlejch was chasing him with a throw of 86.00 m.
The Olympic gold medalist continued with the momentum gained during the previous throw, throwing the javelin to the distance of 88.00m. He maintained his lead throughout the third attempt by all athletes. Vadlejch, his closest competitor lost momentum as his throw was declared a 'no throw'.
The fourth attempt saw Neeraj throw the javelin to a distance of 86.11 m. At the end of the fourth attempt, Neeraj was still in the lead, with Vadlejch being his closest challenger with a throw of 86.94m in his fourth attempt.
Neeraj threw the javelin to a distance of 87.00 m. He still remained in the lead at the end of five attempts by all players, with Vadlejch chasing him with a throw of 83.95 m in the fifth attempt, but he was still quite far from the star Indian athlete.
With one attempt to go, Neeraj looked all set to make history for India in athletics. His final attempt covered a distance of 83.60m. Other athletes had so much time to outdo Chopra, but they could not do it this time around either and Chopra won the final with the best throw of 88.44 m that came in his second attempt. Vadlejch had a final chance but blew it after fouling his throw.