I was feeling a bit nervous: Neeraj Chopra

New Delhi (The Hindu News): After winning the Lausanne Diamond League, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra on Saturday said he was far from his best and was feeling really nervous to return after a month-long break.

Last month, the 25-year-old Indian javelin thrower had skipped the first three top championships due to a muscle strain during training. But he came back with a bang to win the Diamond League title here in his fifth attempt with a throw of 87.66m.

Neeraj beat his nearest rivals – Germany’s Julian Weber (87.03m) and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlage (86.13m) – by a narrow margin late on Friday night. It was Chopra’s second Lausanne Diamond League win in two years.

Chopra was quoted as saying, “Coming back from injury I was feeling a bit nervous. It was a little cold here tonight. I’m still far from my best, but I think it’s getting better. I am relieved that it is turning out well for me. One win and I’ll happily take it.”

The Olympic champion continued, “I wanted to win so I am very happy with the results but I want to go back to training and fix some things that I noticed and that will make me stronger. Lausanne has always been good to me. Last year I won and this year too, so I’m looking forward to coming back next year and winning again! The next competition, Budapest, will be huge for me!”

On Friday, Neeraj started with a foul and then threw 83.52m and 85.04m. He fouled in the fourth round and in the next round he threw the winning throw of 87.66 metres. His sixth and last throw was 84.15m.

Earlier, Neeraj had won the season-opening Diamond League meet in Doha on May 5 with a throw of 88.67m.