Neeraj Chopra aims to win gold medal in Paris Olympics next year, will also bet on 90 meters

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India’s superstar javelin thrower would like to retain the gold medal in next year’s Paris Olympics. After winning the world title in Budapest, the 25-year-old Chopra on Sunday became the third javelin thrower in history to win both the Olympic and World Championship titles.

Asked if he can achieve the feat of Jan Zelezny, the great athlete of Czech Republic who has three Olympic and three World Championship titles. To this, Chopra said, “If I stay motivated and focus on my game, everything is possible.”

He said, ‘My effort is that I have to repeat my title again and I will do whatever hard work I need to do for this.’ Before Chopra, Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway had won back-to-back Olympic and World Championship titles.

Zelezny is also a role model for the Indian superstar who won Olympic gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000 and world championship titles in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Thorkildsen won gold medals at the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships. Chopra, however, admitted that defending the gold medal at the Paris Olympics next year would be a big challenge.

Chopra said, ‘Winning the first Olympic title in Tokyo was a big challenge and now defending it will be an even bigger challenge because again every athlete will come with full preparation. There will be more pressure in this than Tokyo Olympics because there will be more expectations than ever and even I have expectations from myself.

Chopra said, ‘But the most important thing for me would be to save myself from injury. I have to stay healthy and free from injuries so that I can win all my titles again. Chopra, who finished second at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday, said he had a cough and sore throat ahead of the World Championships.

He said, ‘I did not want to tell this earlier because people could understand it as an excuse. But before the qualification round, I had cough and sore throat. I was having trouble. I was having problems in Zurich as well. I was not 100% well, but I will be fine. Such is the life of an athlete.

Just three days later, Chopra took part in the Zurich Diamond League and admitted that he struggled with the first three throws. He started with a throw of 80.79 meters and fouled the next two throws. Chopra said, ‘There was definitely fatigue in Zurich. It was difficult to do well after the World Championships. There was some difficulty in the warm-up as well, it took some time. I was struggling in the first three throws, my run-up was also not right. The throws were weak, not at full speed. After the third round, I felt that I would not be able to be in the top eight.

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