 "This is the first time Neeraj finished out of top 2 since 2021. Image: Reuters")
New Delhi: Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra has been dealing with a back problem for the past two weeks and that might have affected his performance in the World Championships finals in Tokyo on Thursday.
A top source in the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) told PTI that Chopra has been facing back issues and after his competition in the Japanese capital, the two-time Olympic medallist also admitted to it.
Chopra, who was defending the gold he had won in the 2023 edition, endured a nightmarish outing at the finals to end a disappointing eighth, outperformed by debutant compatriot Sachin Yadav who logged a personal best performance to finish a creditable fourth.
“Yes, it is true that Chopra has been troubled by a back problem for the last couple of weeks. He kept us informed about that,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
“It (back problem) must have affected his performance, but he should not worry about his performance. Win and loss happen in sports. Moreover, javelin is such an event that you may not click very well on a particular day and nothing at all on another day.”
According to the AFI official, Chopra had informed the federation about the back problem that had arisen while training in Czech Republic before the World Championships. His current coach, the legendary Jan Zelezny, is from there.
On a day when no thrower managed to cross 90m, Chopra was ousted after the fifth and penultimate round with a best effort of 84.03m that left him eighth overall. Yadav finished fourth with his first round effort of 86.27m.
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After his shock eighth-place finish, Chopra said it was a different day when he could not control the situation.
“It’s happening after a long time. Normally I used to control the situation but it was a different day today. I will accept this result and will try to do my best next season.
“But before coming here, while training in Czech Republic, I had a back issue and due to that I have not trained for the last two weeks. Rehab is going on for that. My team knows this and I have informed AFI also,” he told ‘NNIS’.
“We even did not know initially whether I would able be compete or not. But we took a decision that I would compete. I was not feeling healthy, not having much of training.”
Explaining how the back problem came up, he said, “The incident happened on September 4. I was doing shot put throw during training. I do back throw and front throw. When I bent down for doing front throw, there was a sudden jolt on my left side, the blocking side, it got stretched and I could not even walk.
“We did MRI in Prague and there was some problem in disc. After we reached here on September 6, I have been undergoing treatment with the help of a machine everyday. We did a (testing) session, and decided to compete.”
He said an “easy throw” came from him during the qualification round on Wednesday but he could not do much in the finals on Thursday.