After recovering from an elbow injury, Indian Star Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra Qualifies For 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With an impressive performance of 87.86 m throw at the ACNE League meeting match, Neeraj sealed his place into the important Olympic games, which is scheduled to begin from 24th July 2020.
Neeraj was unable to play the entire season due to severe elbow injury, but finally in his fourth attempt was able to successfully mark his place into the Olympic event.
At the ACNE League, in the beginning, Neeraj registered a throw of a spear to 87.6m. He later showcased a steady improvement with 82m and 82.57 m in the second and third attempts respectively. His latest achievement of 87.86m is the second-best behind 88.06m accomplished with a gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
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Chopra on his qualification commented “ I am extremely pleased with the performance. Going into the competition, I did not try to put much pressure on myself and was keen to test myself out as it was my first meet in a long time. The warm-up throws went very well, and even though my first three throws were around the 81-82m mark, I felt there were some flaws I could work on. This was a major target for me during my rehab and I’m happy to have qualified”.
Neeraj Chopra
Chopra also stated, “I will look to compete more in the coming months and am looking forward to more high-quality competition at the Federation Cup and the Diamond League Circuit”.
Ahead of the Olympic games, Chopra will continue his regular training with his coach for a few days in Potchefstroom.
Rohit Yadav, another Indian Javelin thrower finished second with 77.61m throw.
While recovering from an elbow injury, Neeraj was unable to compete at the IAAF World Championships, the Asian Championships, and the Diamond League Championships.
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He was seen in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, where he clinched a gold medal with a national record throw of 88.06m.
He underwent treatment in May 2019 and to recover he was denied to participate at the National Championship last year by AFI.
Chopra on his comeback said “It been a difficult time over the past year, but I knew I was preparing myself to come back stronger. I am extremely grateful for all the support and guidance I’ve received from all quarters and I am committed to come back stronger and make the country proud”.
KT Irfan, National record holder after finishing into the fourth spot in the 20km event of the Asian Race Walking Championship held in March 2019 at Nomi, Japan is the first Indian to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
Avinash Sable, had also qualified for the games, after winning the men’s 3000m steeplechase and country’s mixed 4x400m relay team at the Doha World Championships last year.
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