New Delhi: Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra pulled out of a top-level competition Tuesday in Switzerland, owing to fatigue. Neeraj Chopra is one of India’s medal aspirants in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics beginning July 23.
Chopra was to compete in the Spitzen Leichtathletik event in Lucerne. It is a World Athletics continental tour silver-level competition where the likes of Olympics gold medal favourite Johannes Vetter of Germany is taking part. Some other top javelin throwers of the world are also part of the event. So Chopra’s pull out has surprised many. His critics feel that this tournament would have been the ideal chance for Chopra to assess his standard.
Chopra had taken part in three events – in Portugal, Sweden and Finland – since June 10. This competition in Lucerne would have been his fourth in nearly three weeks.
It is learnt that Chopra had reached the Swiss city as he had entered his name for the competition. However, he later decided to skip the event to give his body enough time to rest after a lot of travel. It should however, be stated here that the competitions he participated in earlier were below par.
The 23-year-old Chopra now proceed to Upsala in Sweden for training. He is expected to take part in the Gateshead (England) Diamond League July 13. It would be Chopra’s biggest event before the Olympics.
Besides Vetter, the likes of Andreas Hofmann (Germany), Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago) and Bernhard Seifert (Germany), who all are above Chopra in the Road to Tokyo list, were lined up for the event.
Chopra had won bronze in Kuortane Games in Finland Saturday last with an effort of 86.79m, behind season-leader and 2017 world champion Vetter (93.59m) and 2012 Olympics gold medallist and 2016 Games bronze winner Walcott (89.12m).
This was Chopra’s third best performance this season since re-writing his own national record during the Indian Grand Prix 3 with a throw of 88.07m in March at the NIS Patiala. A few days later, he had thrown 87.80m during the Federation Cup at the same venue.
In his previous two competitions in Europe, Chopra had come up with a best effort of 83.18m to win an event in Lisbon, Portugal June 10 before having a below-par performance of 80.96m at the Karlstad Grand Prix in Sweden June 22.
The 23-year-old reigning Asian and Commonwealth Games champion had qualified for Tokyo Olympics in January last year in South Africa.
