Neeraj Chopra: No matter how great a champion someone is, they don’t always win

Since India’s independence, the Indian national anthem has played at the Olympic Games only seven times. Neeraj Chopra’s historic javelin throw gold at the Tokyo Games was one of those moments. Although this time he ceded the top spot to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem at the Stade de France, Neeraj remains proud of his silver medal and is content with contributing to India’s medal tally at the world’s biggest stage.

“It’s the reality of sports—no matter how great a champion someone is, they don’t always win. At some point, the result won’t go in their favor. It would have been great to hear the national anthem play, but I’m happy with the silver medal I won for my country,” Neeraj told Sportstar in an exclusive interview during his visit to Omega House here.

During the javelin final, Neeraj experienced some issues with his run-up and was later seen returning to that area to inspect something. “A lot of my throws were foul throws. Some of those I did deliberately, though. I was just checking where I got blocked. I just wanted to have a look at the area,” he added.

On the field, Neeraj energises himself with a burst of aggression, which can sometimes be mistaken for anger. “Yes, I do get angry. I can’t say I get angry on the field. I get aggressive on the field. I think it is necessary sometimes. I try to handle it. Along with the aggression, I try to keep my focus on technique and performance,” Neeraj said.

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Neeraj has been mindful of a lingering injury during his performances, acknowledging that it has impacted his focus. “Yes, it is difficult to compete despite an injury. Instead of the performance, you focus more on not aggravating the injury. Despite that, I performed well and got my season-best throw.”

Apart from addressing injury issues, Neeraj, who is yet to cross the 90m mark, wanted to improve the technical side of his game. “Javelin is a technical sport. You always have some scope for improvement. There are a few things that I have to improve. I will work on that in the next off-season,” said Neeraj.