CHENNAI: Neeraj Chopra is seemingly blessed with un-Indian athletic genes. If his still nascent elite top-end career had seen him break the pack's early doors by dominating stacked line-ups, he reached into his bag of tricks to manufacture something he has never had to do before. Come from behind to upstage his opponents.
On a cold Lausanne on Friday night, Chopra, coming back from a muscle strain, had an indifferent beginning. His usual MO is to set the tempo and ask the field to play catch-up. As the table shows, most of his wins, including the Olympic gold, have come from his first two throws.
In Switzerland, though, the javelin ace was found wanting — by his very high standards — in his first two attempts. After registering no mark in the first throw, his second of 83.52m took him up to third place. It clearly wasn’t the greatest javelin condition but Chopra found a way to fight against the tide. His third throw was 85.04 before another no-mark followed.
While the others seemingly struggled, Chopra had finally gotten the hang of the conditions. In his fifth throw, he hurled the spear to a distance of 87.66m to walk away with a second first-place finish in as many Diamond League meetings this year. He may have been forced to miss three tune-up events — never good, especially in a World Championships year — in June but that’s the thing with Chopra.
He’s seemingly someone who doesn’t need mileage in his legs to get back into competition mode. He opened the season in Doha by picking up maximum points and now leads the standings.
After the event, he conceded that he was feeling nervous. Perhaps, it kind of explains why he had to take the scenic route to beat his rivals. “I was feeling a bit nervous coming back from an injury,” he told the organisers. “It was a bit cold here tonight (Friday). I am still far from my best, but I feel it is getting better. I am relieved it’s coming together well for me. A win is a win and I will take that happily.”
With Worlds coming up at Budapest, these wins tend to help because you know you have alternate ways of finishing on top. The 25-year-old also revealed that he does not compete again till Budapest.
“I wanted to win so I’m super happy with the results but I also want to go back to training and fix some of the things that I noticed and that are going to make me stronger. Lausanne always treats me well. Last year I won and this year too, so I look forward to coming again next year and win again! The next competition, Budapest, will be a big one for me”
In this mood, you would want to be in his corner. That tells you everything you need to know about Chopra, who’s almost a banker these days. Not many Indians give you that feeling.
