‘Humongous pressure’: Neeraj Chopra on participating in back-to-back events

Indiarsquos Olympic gold medalwinning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has insisted that it is not easy for an athlete to peak when one participates in backtoback events He won the World Athletics Championships gold last Sunday and then settled for a silver 8571m at the Zurich Diamond League on ThursdayChopra is well aware of the pressure he will endure to defend his title at next yearrsquos Paris Olympics And before that he needs to give his best at the Hangzhou Asian Games September 23 to October 8ldquoIt was a big challenge to win the first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo But to defend my title is going to be a much bigger one challenge since everybody will come prepared The pressure on me will be humongousmdashmuch more than in Tokyo because there will be a lot more expectationsMental preparation crucialldquoI have my own expectations but the most important thing for me will be to stay injuryfree Also there is less time between the Eugene Diamond League September 1617 and Asian Games Both competitions are important I need to do well at the Asian Games too and for that I need to prepare mentallyrdquo Chopra said during an online interaction conducted by JSW Sports on FridayWhen asked if he can emulate his idol and legendary Czech Republic athlete Jan Zelezny who won three Olympics and three World Championships titles Chopra replied ldquoEverything is possible if I remain motivated and focussed on my game My endeavour would be to defend my title at the Paris Olympics and do all the hard work that is needed to achieve that goalrdquoOn Sunday Chopra 25 became only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championships titles after his gold in Budapest Before Chopra Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway held the Olympics and World Championships titles respectively Zelezny had won the Olympic gold in 1992 1996 and 2000 while clinching World Championships titles in 1993 1995 and 2001 Thorkildsen won a gold at the Beijing Olympics and emerged victorious at the 2009 World ChampionshipsAlso Read Neeraj Chopra The spear superman of Indian athleticsTalking about how difficult it is to peak Chopra remarked ldquoEven if you are in good form there is a lot of performance pressure and it becomes difficult to peak within such a short time two or three days I prefer a gap of one or two weeks between two competitions in order to give my body some time to recover As an athlete you cannot be your best all the time I am learning from other athletes that one need not push hard in all events and that distance doesnrsquot always matter For example I am happy with the silver I won in Zurich though it was not my best performancerdquoBattling health issuesThe Indian further explained how he was not in the best of health before the recent Worlds but chose not to speak about it then ldquoI did not want to talk about this earlier because people may think I was giving an excuse But I had cough and a sore throat before the qualification rounds I was having problems I had the same problem in Zurich but I will be alright An athletersquos life is such you canrsquot complainrdquo he saidWas competing with myself not Neeraj ArshadPakistanrsquos World Championships silver medallist javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem does not consider Indian gold winner Neeraj Chopra as his main rival saying he competes with himselfNadeem on Sunday became the first athlete from Pakistan to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest Hungary while Olympic champion Chopra won the goldAsked if Chopra was his main rival in the World Championships Nadeem said ldquoNo I myself is the only competitor to Arshad Nadeem I did not think I was competing to win against anybodyrdquo Chopra won gold with a throw of 8817m while reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nadeem took the silver with his seasonrsquos best throw of 8782mSreeshankar qualifies for finalIndia Murali Sreeshankar has qualified for the Diamond League final after finishing fifth best attempt 799m in the menrsquos long jump He accumulated 14 points 644 from the three Diamond League events he participated The Eugene Diamond League finals is scheduled for September 1617