Chopra happy patience has paid off
ROAD TO TOKYO Javelin champion delighted to achieve Olympic qualification on return from elbow surgery
NEWDELHI: Neeraj Chopra is back with a bang. The young javelin thrower, the best bet at the Tokyo Olympics to end independent India’s wait for a track and field medal at the mega games, seemed to be fighting a losing fitness battle following an elbow surgery last year.
However, the 22-year-old is glad he did not rush into competition after the surgery last May and heeded to the advice of coaches and athletics officials that he should ease back into action.
“I feel proud of making a strong comeback. Participating in a competition after one-andhalf years and clearing the O l y mp i c ma r k g i v e s me immense satisfaction,” Chopra told Hindustan Times.
Marked for greater things since his grabbed headlines with a gold-winning throw in the 2016 U-20 world athletics, there was genuine concern his Olympic dreams could be dashed after the injury to the pivotal body part in a javelin thrower’s action.
The eight-month wait to let his elbow return to peak health and allow a new technique to bed down paid dividends last week. In his first competition since November 2018, Chopra threw 87.86m at the ACNW League Meet in Potchefstroom, South Africa achieving the Tokyo Games qualification mark of 85m. His form was extra pleasing as Grenada’s Anderson Peters won gold at the Doha World Championships in SeptemberOctober—a meet Chopra was desperate to rush into—with a throw of only 86.89m.
With anxiety over qualification gone, Chopra is looking forward to the solid six months he has to polish technique and find competition momentum that will help mount a medal challenge in Japan. His will start with the Federation Cup at home and the IAAF Diamond League in Doha, both scheduled in April.
Starved for competition, Chopra was at the training ground straightaway after booking the Olympic spot. “From the next day onwards, I resumed my original training schedule. Preparations have begun for Tokyo and for all the competitions on the road,” he says.
Although some doubted if he could make a strong comeback, Chopra says he was always confident. “I believed I could qualify for Tokyo because I was having a good time at the training. Everything was working out and bhaari haath chal raha tha (I was throwing very well). That I qualified in my first attempt makes me really happy.”
Chopra could not bear to wait after surgery. The Haryanaborn athlete wanted to target the Doha worlds after the Athletics Federation of I ndia ( AFI) announced he had qualified. Although he had not competed for eight months due to injury, the 83.90m he threw at the All India Inter-services meet in September, 2018 had made him eligible.
But he was advised by the federation and his coaches to let his body heal.
“I had trained really hard for the World Championships. It was constantly on my mind, whenever I was at the training. But injury ki wajah se sab gadbad ho gaya (due to injury everything went upside down),” he said over phone from Potchefstroom.
The injury came when Chopra was going from strength to strength through 2018. He won gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and at the Jakarta Asian Games that followed, with a national record of 88.06m. A Diamond League medal just eluded him.
“I started feeling my injury in November 2018. I continued to train, but was not having too many issues despite the pain. But it aggravated by April,” he said. The inflammation in the joint caused Chopra such pain he could not even pick a javelin that weighs just 800 gram.
“X-rays showed severe damage and I required surgery.”
During rehabilitation, first in Mumbai and then at JSW’S Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary, Karnataka, he was initially advised not to do too much hand movements. To keep his morale up, Chopra did fitness exercises, challenging himself each day.
“After surgery, I immediately started cycling because I was unable to move my hand.
“Later, I started hand and strengthening exercises and slowly started gaining strength. I kept myself motivated by setting a target for each day, to do better than the previous day,” he says.
Neeraj split with national javelin coach Uwe Hohn, the former German world record holder, and started training with biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz, also attached to the Indian team. He trained at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala before shifting to South Africa.
In October, Neeraj announced his return at the Ranchi Nationals, but was dissuaded again by the federation and coaching staff, worried he had not fully adapted to the new techniques to avoid injury and could lapse into using the old technique in competition. Neeraj pulled out.
It was worth the wait. A medal at Tokyo would be the biggest reward for the patience.