World C’ships gold, 90m mark are Neeraj’s targets for season

NEW DELHI: Winning gold in the World Championships in Hungary in August and breaching the “magical” 90m mark are Neeraj Chopra’s targets for the year as the javelin thrower seeks to stay injury-free in the run-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Neeraj, who will begin his season in the Doha leg of the prestigious Diamond League Meet on May 5, had won silver in the 2022 World Championships in the USA.

“It is going to be a long season this time, the Asian Games (javelin event) is going to be [held] in October. I will try to stay away from injuries, I am hoping for a successful as well as healthy season,” Neeraj, a 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold-medal winner, said from his current base in Turkey during a virtual interaction.

“I want to win gold in the World Championships, but there is no pressure to do it this time or later. I need to be better technically this year as the season is long,” added the 25-year-old Neeraj, who has been training at the Gloria Sports Arena in Antalya since April 1.

Neeraj said that he would do everything to cross the 90m mark this year, but added that he would not put himself under pressure to achieve the rare milestone.

“Everybody has been asking about the 90m mark since 2018. Last year, I was just 6cm short of 90m. I hope to do it this year, but I will not put any pressure on myself. 90m is a magical mark and the 90m club is famous in the world of javelin. I hope to enter it this year,” said Neeraj, who has a personal best of 89.94m.