‘Asian Games to be tougher than CWG’

NEW DELHI: The Commonwealth Games gold has given him the confidence and javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is now aiming to grab another yellow metal at the Asian Games, which he admitted will be tougher than the Gold Coast CWG.

Neeraj became the first Indian javelin thrower to win gold at the CWG at Gold Coast with a throw of 86.47m but he said that effort will not be enough for a gold in the Jakarta Asian Games in August.

“Winning a gold in CWG with a very good effort early in the season is a big confidence booster going ahead in the year. Not only the gold but the performance has made me assured that I can do better. Winning an Asian Games gold is my next target,” the 20-year-old Haryana athlete said.

“I worked hard to win the CWG gold and I will have to work even harder for the Asian Games. The Asian Games will be tougher (than the CWG) and I have to do better than my personal best (of 86.48m) if I have to win a gold in Jakarta,” he added.

At Gold Coast, going into the final round, Neeraj was the clear favourite to win the gold as Kenyan former world champion and Rio Olympics silver medallist Julius Yego crashed out at the qualification stage while Trinidad’s Keshorn Walcott, the 2012 London Olympics champion and Rio Games bronze medallist, had already opted out of the CWG.

“In Jakarta, there will be Taipei’s Asian record holder Cheng Chao-tsun (who has a personal best of 91.26m) and then Ahmed Bader of Qatar, who can throw above 85m. So, it will a tough competition in the Asian Games and it will not be easy,” said Neeraj, who is targetting 90m before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Taipei’s Cheng Chao-tsun has been Neeraj’s close rival in Asia in the last couple of years. Last year, the Taipei thrower had beaten Neeraj in an Asian Grand Prix event while the Indian got the better of him in the Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar.

But Chao-tsun is the only Asian to break the 90m barrier in

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I worked hard to win the CWG gold and I will have to work even harder for the Asian Games.

NEERAJ CHOPRA, Commonwealth Games gold-medallist javelin thrower

men’s javelin as he hurled the spear to a distance of 91.26m on his way to World Universiade gold in Taipei City in August last.

Qatar’s Ahmed Bader is an up and coming talent and won silver behind Neeraj in the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneshwar.