‘ Reaching Gold Coast early will help us’
Neeraj Chopra was among the first batch of athletes to land in Australia for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and the star javelin thrower believes the “early start” will help him acclimatise to the conditions well before the games.
“The athletics federation send us early so that we can adjust our schedules according to the weather conditions and diet here and it will help us in our performance. This is my first trip to Australia and so far my experience here has been good. The training facility is also world class,” Chopra said from Australia on Monday.
The Haryana boy is determined to give his best and will look to return with a medal. The Indians will camp and train at Super Sports Centre till March 25 before moving to the Commonwealth Games Village.
“This is my first Commonwealth and I am very excited. I participated in the South Asian Games but CWG is much bigger and I will give my 100 per cent. I want to make my debut memorable,” said the 20- year- old, who smashed the junior world record en route to a gold medal with an effort of 86.48m at the IAAF World Under- 20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2016.
“I am here to give my best and if I will be able to give my best performance then hopefull I will return with a medal from here,” the SAG Games gold medallist added.
Since Australian Garry Calvert left mid- way through his contract in May last year, Chopra felt the vacuum of not having a full time coach by his side. But the arrival of the legendary German Uwe Hohn, a former world record holder and the only javelin thrower to cross the 100m mark, earlier this year put Chopra in experienced hands again.
“I am happy that I am coaching under Hohn. The journey so far with him is very satisfying and hopefully it will be same in future. He taught me new techniques and I am working on them.”
Chopra said the competition will be very tough with Olympic medallists and former world champions in line and “fitness will be the mantra for me”.
“My preparation is going great. I need to concentrate on my fitness and will look to keep myself fit till CWG.
“Competition is going to be tough there as my opponents will be 2015 world champion Julius Yego and Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott among others and both will be tough to crack. World Under- 20 bronze medallist Andersen Peters from Grenada is another name that can give me a good fight.”
Chopra was upbeat about Indian athletes’ medal chances as well. The AFI has named a 31- member team for the Games.
“India have a bright chance to bag medals. Athletes are fit but lets see how it goes.”