Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra said he was focused on excelling at the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26 in France.
Competing in his first national competition after winning gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 in Japan, the famous javelin thrower comfortably won the gold medal with a throw of 82.27m
“Winning gold at the Olympic Games is more glorious than breaking the 90m barrier,” said the champion javelin thrower here on Wednesday. “I will certainly break this barrier (90m), but at the moment I am mentally; physically and emotionally focused to make a big impression at the Paris Games.”
“I expected good competition from Manu DP. But as the competition progressed, Manu DP couldn’t reach a good pace to cross 85m”, explained the 26-year-old world champion.
Manu DP from Karnataka came second. Uttam Patil of Maharashtra was third with a throw of 78.39m.
Asian Games medalist and local hero, Kishore Kumar Jena finished fifth with a throw of 75.49m.
Shivpal Singh, another prominent release was eliminated in the preliminary round. Only the top eight advanced to the medal round.
Neeraj Chopra opened his 2024 season with second place (88.36m) in the Doha Diamond League.
After the national competitions here in Bhubaneswar, he will compete in Europe to prepare for the Paris Olympics.
In preparation for the Olympic Games, he laid out his plans. He will compete on May 28th in Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Turku (Finland) in June. After that, he will assess your aptitude. “I’ll see how my body and mind react to high-quality competitions and then I’ll take a call,” he revealed.
Neeraj Chopra’s personal and national record of 89.94m was recorded in 2022. The champion thrower said he was working hard and on a good day he should be able to surpass 90m. “I prefer to win and not think about the distance,” he explained.
Known as the golden boy of Indian athletics, Neeraj Chopra was excited to see youngsters watching athletics at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium. “I’m excited to see so many fans at the stadium,” he added.
–IANS
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