Chopra clarifies injury status: 'Don't want to take risk during Olympic year'

Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Sunday clarified that he is not injured but has pulled out of the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Czech Republic on May 28 as a precautionary measure after he felt something on his adductor muscles during a recent training sessionChopra said he would not want to risk injury in an Olympic year and hence decided to skip the prestigious meetFollowing a recent throwing session I decided not to compete in Ostrava as I felt something in my adductor I have had problems with it in the past and pushing it at this stage can lead to injury Chopra wrote on his InstagramJust to clarify I am not injured but I dont want to take any risk during the Olympic year so had to take this decision Once I feel its fully recovered I will get back to competitions he addedChopras clarification came just hours after the organisers of the prestigious meet said he has decided to skip the event due to an injury he sustained while training two weeks agoDue to an injury that he sustained in training two weeks ago adductor muscle he will not be able to throw in Ostrava but he will arrive at the event as a guest the organisers of Golden Spike said earlier in the dayAlso Read Neeraj Chopra Kishore Jena granted direct entry into Federation Cup finalsThe 26yearold world champion will however attend the meet as a guest according to the organisersThis was to be Chopras first foray in Golden Spike meet a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold level event which is a going to see a starstudded field with Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and 2023 world championships bronze winner Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic and former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada set to be in actionChopra has competed in two competitions this season the Doha Diamond League and the Federation CupHe commenced his 2024 season on a strong note clinching silver with an impressive throw of 8836 metres at the Doha Diamond League on May 10He then made a return to domestic competition after almost three years winning gold in the Federation Cup on May 15 with a throw of 8227m pushing DP Manu to second spot in BhubaneswarThe Golden Spike was not initially announced to be Chopras third competition of the season But during Doha Diamond League on May 10 he said he would be competing in the Golden SpikeBefore that Chopra had announced that he would be taking part in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku Finland on June 18Chopra is one of Indias best medal hopes in the Paris Olympics where he would be keen to retain the gold medal he won at the Tokyo OlympicsThe Golden Spike organisers said they had received a note from Chopra informing them about his pull out from the competitionThe organisers did note a message from the Olympic champion Neeraj ChopraEuropean champion Germanys Julian Weber will be the replacement for ChopraThe best possible replacement was managed by the organisers European champion Julian Weber from Germany who threw 8837 on Friday the third best performance of the year will come to Ostrava It will be a big test for Jakub Vadlejch before the EC in Rome the statement addedWith agency inputs