Despite winning the gold medal in the Federation Cup, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra expressed dissatisfaction with his performance. The world champion javelin thrower, competing in India for the first time in three years, clinched gold with a best throw of 82.27m but admitted it was below his expectations.
Reflecting on his performance, Neeraj said, “I thought I could compete here and that’s good. But when it comes to the throw, it wasn’t what I wanted.” The 26-year-old superstar, who recently secured a second-place finish at the Doha Diamond League, managed to win the gold medal with his first attempt.
Neeraj shared, “The competition was very good, but the weather was hot. From the beginning, I thought if I felt better, I would try accordingly. I came here after competing in Doha, and I needed more time to recover. I had to travel, and I wasn’t feeling at my best.”
He further explained, “I tried my best and made only four throws because I want to compete in the Golden Spike tournament in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on May 28. It will take about 10 days to recover. After a long time, I was in such weather, so I decided to stop after the fourth throw.”
