Glasgow, July 27:
Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra says he is not “obsessed” with breaching the 90-metre mark every time he competes, insisting that winning major titles and delivering consistently in difficult conditions matter more than chasing a magical number.
The reigning world champion, who finally crossed the coveted 90m barrier with a personal best throw of 90.23m at the Doha Diamond League last year, said his priority at any championship is to finish on top, with distance being secondary.
“No, I don’t feel that pressure, nor do I obsess over a specific distance. As an athlete, my goal is always to improve my distance,” Chopra said in response to a PTI query.
“I always feel in major Games, the main challenge is winning gold among the best athletes in the world. The second thing is distance. So I feel I need to keep increasing my distance.” The 28-year-old acknowledged that weather and other external factors often influence javelin competitions, making consistency just as important as throwing big.
“But when the conditions are tough, we are not able to get the distance. In that case, we have to be consistent. So I feel I should maintain my consistency and see how I can also increase my distance,” he said.
Having erased years of speculation by finally breaking the 90m barrier, Chopra said improving his personal best remains an important long-term objective.
“I definetly want to improve my throw.” Men’s javelin has become one of Asia’s most competitive events, with Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, Sri Lanka’s Diamond League winner Rumesh Pathirage and Chopra regularly challenging each other on the international circuit.
“That’s a good thing. When the competition is tough, we are able to push each other more. Especially in South Asia, there is a lot of strong competition now. Everyone will push themselves here,” Chopra said.
Chopra returns to the Commonwealth Games for the first time since winning gold on debut at the 2018 Gold Coast edition, having missed Birmingham in 2022 through injury.
“The field is quite tough. Olympic and World Championship, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallists are here. All of them perform in the Diamond League.
With rain and gusty winds forecast for the competition, Chopra said he has already begun preparing for the challenging conditions and believes the mental battle will be as important as the physical one.
“I was doing some training throws yesterday. The conditions are tough, but they are the same for everyone,” he said.”No matter how bad the conditions are, we have to stay mentally strong. I always think about how to produce the absolute best throw in the worst conditions.” Talking about his fitness he said. “It is good now. I played my first competition in Doha after recovering, and it went well. I worked on my weaknesses and fitness, and I feel much better now.
The title in Australia was the first senior international gold medal of his career and marked the beginning of his rise to becoming one of the sport’s biggest stars.
“I have very good memories of the Commonwealth Games. It was my first senior competition at the Commonwealth Games, and I essentially started my senior career there when I won gold,” he said.
“It’s been eight years now, and finally I am back here.
“As I always say, when you represent your country, big Games are always special.
“I am happy that I am back on the field, I am feeling good, and I have been working on my game for a while now. The nature of the competition has changed a lot in the last eight years,” he said.
Neeraj will be in action on July 30 when the men’s javelin throw qualification is scheduled.