Neeraj takes fresh guard in Lausanne

New Delhi: The Lausanne Diamond League will be special for many reasons. One of the most consistent athletes on the international circuit since Tokyo 2020 Olympics gold in 2021, Neeraj Chopra had only one valid throw in the final of the javelin in Paris on August 8th night. That was enough for him to secure the silver in Summer Games behind Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who magically wrote himself into the history books with a mammoth 92.72m throw.

Things didn’t go as planned and Neeraj was quite perturbed by his effort, especially the foul throws. He has not fouled so many times in one competition in recent times. He spoke about the groin injury that had been troubling him for quite some time and also said that he would seek a final opinion before addressing it. He kept repeating, “andar bahut baki hai” (there is a lot more inside) almost sounding remorseful and hurt. This will give him more confidence despite injury concerns.

The Olympic final was good as it fetched him a medal but the final effort was not to his liking. Yet the 26-year-old entered the history book as the most successful individual athlete of the country. His reputation would be intact even if he doesn’t win anything after this. But for a champion like him not winning is not part of his sporting jargon. He rued his lack of good legwork and rhythm during the final. Yet, he never believed that he would not be able to overhaul Arshad’s throw.