Neeraj Chopra on the right track ahead of World Championships and CWG

Six centimeters was all that separated Neeraj Chopra from the elusive 90m mark when the Olympic Champion settled for a second spot at the Stockholm Diamond League with an 89.94m throw. The distance was shorter than a 15cm plastic scale a 90s kid used at school. The throw was still good enough for Neeraj to break his national record for the sixth time in six years and for the second time in 16 days. People close to him  are also aware that Neeraj is certainly not losing sleep over not going past the 90m mark, as for the Indian poster boy, giving his best is the priority and not the distance of his throw. Neeraj rewrote the national record with his very first throw on Thursday night and maintained strong form for the rest of the night. With as many as three of the remaining five throws landing beyond 86m (sequence second throw onwards: 84.37m, 87.46, 84.77, 86.67, 86.84), Neeraj knew it was a good day at the office.

It felt amazing to be back on the Diamond League circuit and even better to get a new PB!
All the throwers put up a great show tonight for the crowd in Stockholm!

Next stop ➡️ Representing 🇮🇳 at the World Championships in Eugene pic.twitter.com/OpiXyrp4wv

— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) June 30, 2022

“I never thought of going past (90m) with my first throw as the mindset was to give my best. Of course, after the first throw, it felt like 90m is achievable today but still, I am satisfied that I gave my best,” Neeraj said after the event. The performance certainly pleased top officials and coaches of the Athletics Federation of India, who sent Neeraj and his German coach Bartonietz Klaus for training in USA, followed by Europe since last December before Neeraj kicked off his season in Finland mid-June . Thursday’s night result, after silver and gold medals in two local events, was a further indication that they are again on the right track with the goals of the season in the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games. “It was proper planning by the coach (Klaus) and AFI and the result is there for everyone to see,” AFI national coach Radhakrishnan Nair told Firstpost. “Neeraj is a top-level athlete and we need to take good care of him. The competitions and training were well-planned for him and he has been improving with every competition, making us confident of his best showing at the World Championship as well as CWG.” Neeraj will be next flying out to the USA on 5 July and will be training there in Chula Vista, where he did off-season training from December to March earlier. The Indian World Championship and CWG squad will also join the javelin thrower soon at the venue. Some, however, were also surprised the way season leader Anderson Peters (93.07m in May) pipped Neeraj for the first spot in Stockholm with a 90.31m throw. The 24-year-old Grenadian struggled to match his Indian rival in Turku and Kuortane, and threw as low as 71.94m at another event last week. However, as pointed out in our reports earlier, any experienced thrower likes to conserve their best efforts for the premium tournaments in the calendar. An athlete naturally picks big-ticket events like World and continental championships followed by Diamond Leagues, which have a fat prize purse. AFI also understands the importance of Neeraj peaking at the right time in the season and has chalked out his regime the way they did for the Tokyo Olympics last year. “Like Olympics, Neeraj peaking at the right time has always been important to us. That’s why we chose three competitions ahead of the World Championships, which is going to be his fourth competition of the season after Stockholm. And then he will directly compete in Europe. The plan has been decided by his coach and he has our full backing,” said Nair. Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook****, Twitter and Instagram****.