Want to throw 90m to enhance chances of Olympic medal: Neeraj

India’s only gold medallist in athletics at the 21st Commonwealth Games, young javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has set his eyes at achieving a distance of 90m consistently to enhance his chances of winning a medal at the Olympics.

The 20-year-old from Haryana, who clinched the gold at 2016 World Junior Championships, produced a season best of 86.47 metres to claim the yellow metal at Gold Coast to became only the fourth Indian individual in the history of the Games to win a track and field gold.

“I had trained in Germany (under prominent coach Werner Daniels) for three months. I used to train and also cook my own food. I had to work hard for this gold and I hope this motivates others to also take up the sport and do well for the country,” Neeraj told PTI during an interaction which was part of a felicitation program organised by the Indian Army.

“My main target is to achieve a distance of 90m. That is a benchmark at world level and if I can throw that much then I will be able to win a medal at world level and also at Olympics.” German duo of Johannes Vetter (94.44) and Thomas Röhler (93.90) are placed second and third in the all-time list of top 25 javelin thrower, which is topped by Czech Jan Zelezný (98.48).

Neeraj’s coach legendary German Uwe Hohn, a former world record holder, is the only javelin thrower to cross 100m mark with a throw of 104.80 in 1984, two years before the men’s javelin was redesigned, which shortened the throwing distance by approximately 10 percent.