India’s ‘golden boy’, Neeraj Chopra, enjoyed a terrific 2023 season, as he won his first World Championships title, and followed it with Diamond League and Asian Games triumph. While the 90m mark eluded Neeraj, India’s star javelin thrower continued to extend his dominance in the sport despite a brief injury setback mid-way into the season earlier this year. However, Neeraj triumphs weren’t the only positive for Indian javelin sports this year; 2023 also saw the emergence of other Indian javelin throwers at the world level.
Three Indians – Neeraj, Kishore Jena, and DP Manu – qualified for the final of the Worlds in September. Jena would also go on to clinch a silver medal in the Asian Games last month, ensuring India enjoy a top-2 podium finish in the javelin event. And India’s growing dominance in the sport is exactly what Neeraj Chopra wants going ahead.
During an insightful conversation at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit (HTLS) 2023, Neeraj insisted that he wants to see India becoming a javelin superpower.
“I want that to happen (India’s emergence in global javelin events)! I want India to become a superpower in javelin! See, every athlete has their own time at their peak. If you want to play for a long time, there will come a time when your performances will go down, and someone will take over. And I’ve already made my peace with that. I want an Indian athlete to come up, and keep our Indian flag flying high,” Neeraj said.
Neeraj believes that government’s continual investment on athletes across multiple sport, and the athletes, in turn, getting much-needed exposure with training and competing in Europe has played a crucial role in India’s improvement at the world level.
“The biggest advantage of training in Europe is that the biggest tournaments take place there. We don’t have to travel much, and we are accustomed to the weather. So, there aren’t many problems there. There’s a lot to learn from athletes here as well about their training methods and preparations. Javelin hasn’t been an Indian game, to start with. Now, even in Paralmypics, India have performed. Now, the world knows that India has improved in javelin,” Neeraj said.
No pressure of expectations
The Indian javelin thrower enters every competition as a favourite, but with continual success, he believes the pressure of expectations doesn’t make much difference for him.
“I feel I don’t have to do a lot of work for that. At Olympics, yes, a lot of people were expecting a medal. I’ve played Worlds last year and this time too and won gold, played in Asian Games two times now and won on both occasions. So, this isn’t happening for the first time. It has happened a lot of times, people have expected me to win and I’ve expected myself to win, and I have succeeded. I believe in myself, and try to live in the moment. I’m just focussing on the training. Once I’m in the stadium in Paris, it’s just about being in the zone,” Neeraj said with conviction.
