New Delhi [India], May 1 (ANI): Star India javelin thrower and Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra mentioned on Monday that he goals to be technically higher than earlier than and has learnt to handle stress and focus, carry out at high-profile occasions just like the Olympics over time he has spent in his sport.
Neeraj will start his 2023 athletics season on May 5 within the Doha Diamond League. He is the present Diamond League champion. He grew to become the primary Indian athlete to win the prized trophy when he received it in September of final 12 months on the finals in Zurich.
The Doha leg of the Diamond League, which might be contested on the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium in Qatar, is the place the Indian javelin-throwing ace will try and defend his title this 12 months.
Neeraj Chopra will compete within the Doha, Lausanne, Monaco, and Zurich legs of the 2023 Diamond League season in an effort to qualify for this 12 months’s finals in Eugene, US.
High-profile occasions just like the Asian Games, ranging from September 23 in China and the World Athletics Championships are additionally part of Chopra’s massive 2023 season.
“Preparation has been really good. We have been focusing on my strength. Now, we are working on the technical aspect and trying to fine-tune things before Doha (Diamond League). This is going to be a long season with the Asian Games in September-October, so I want to make myself technically better than before,” Neeraj Chopra mentioned to the Olympics.com.
He can be the present Asian Games champion, having secured a gold medal on the 2018 version of the video games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Neeraj had additionally received the silver medal on the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene, USA earlier 12 months and might be aiming for the gold this time. The 2023 version of the championship is scheduled to be held in Budapest, Hungary from August 19 to August 27.
The Olympic champion, who can be India’s nationwide report holder in his self-discipline, has not competed at an occasion since his triumph at Zurich final 12 months because of an harm. He had consequently missed the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham from July to August final 12 months.
With the Paris 2024 Olympics coming, this season is an important one for Neeraj and is crammed with heaps of expectations from followers.
“I know that the pressure and expectations will be high from Paris 2024 but all these years, I have learnt how to maintain myself and how to focus on big competitions and how to perform on the big platforms like the Olympics.””The last medal will motivate me for the next one, and the Tokyo Olympics medal has been a big motivation for the next Games,” Neeraj Chopra concluded.
2022 was a tremendous 12 months for Neeraj. In June, he made a brand new nationwide report and completed with a silver medal with a throw of 89.30 metres on the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland, bettering his personal earlier nationwide report of 88.07 meters which he had set in Patiala in March final 12 months.
In June once more, he gave one other sterling efficiency as he clinched gold within the 2022 Kuortane Games in Finland. Neeraj threw 86.69 m to clinch the highest prize in tough and moist situations.
At the World Athletics Championships in July, Neeraj Chopra made historical past by changing into solely the second Indian and the primary male observe and discipline athlete to take residence a medal. He completed second and received the silver medal, realising his intention of successful a World medal with a throw of 88.13 metres. Anju Bobby George received a bronze medal for India within the lengthy leap competitors earlier than Neeraj.
In September, Chopra made historical past by changing into the first-ever Indian to win the celebrated Diamond League trophy, a top-tier athletics competitors, attaining the perfect throw of 88.44 m to clinch one of many greatest wins of his profession.
He now holds the male javelin report due to a throw within the Stockholm Diamond League that measured 89.94 metres, with which he broke his personal report. He clinched a silver medal on the prestigious Diamond League meet in Stockholm and broke his personal earlier report. (ANI)