India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra has been suffering from a back problem for the past two weeks, and that might have affected his performance in the World Championships finals in Tokyo on Thursday.
An Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official said Chopra has been facing back issues, and after his competition, the two-time Olympic medallist also admitted to it. "Yes, it is true that Chopra has been troubled by a back problem for the last couple of weeks. He kept us informed about it. The back problem must have affected his performance, but he should not worry about it. Win and loss happen in sports. Moreover, javelin is such an event that you may not click very well on a particular day," the official said.
Chopra, who was defending the World Championships gold he had won in 2023, endured a horrendous outing at the finals to end eighth.
According to the AFI official, Chopra had informed the federation about the back problem that had arisen while training in Czech Republic before the World Championships. His current coach, the legendary Jan Zelezny, is from Czech Republic.
On a day when no thrower managed to cross 90m, Chopra was ousted after the fifth and penultimate round with a best effort of 84.03m. Compatriot Sachin Yadav finished fourth with his first round effort of 86.27m. The official said Yadav's performance showed that Indian javelin has the depth to do well at the global stage.
After his shock eighth-place finish, Chopra said it was a different day when he could not control the situation. “It's happening after a long time. Normally I used to control the situation, but it was a different day today. I will accept this result and will try to do my best next season. But before coming here, while training in Czech Republic, I had a back issue and due to that I have not trained for the last two weeks. Rehab is going on for that. My team knows this, and I have informed the AFI also," said Chopra.
Also read: Neeraj ends up dismal 8th, Sachin springs a surprise
He said that he even did not know initially whether he would be able be compete or not. “But we took a decision that I would compete. I was not feeling healthy, not having much of training."
Explaining how the back problem cropped up, Chopra said, "The incident happened on September 4. I was doing shot put throw during training. I do back throw and front throw. When I bent down for doing front throw, there was a sudden jolt on my left side. It got stretched and I could not even walk. We did MRI in Prague and there was some problem in disc. After we reached here on September 6, I have been undergoing treatment with the help of a machine everyday. We did a testing session, and decided to compete."
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