The World Athletics Championship is the biggest competition of the year for me, says Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra

The World Athletics Championship is going on and it has been a very underwhelming campaign for the Indians as the athletes have not had the desired results till now. However that can change once Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra comes into play as the javelin thrower will look to become the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in the World Athletics Championship. Former Indian long jumper Anju Bobby George is still the only Indian to win a medal at the World Athletics Champion as she won the bronze medal and now Neeraj will be looking to better that record.

The Indian ace will also be looking to breach the 90m mark in Oregon. He has already  bettered his personal best twice as he came up with a distance of 89.94m missing the target by just a few centimeters on June 30 at the Stockholm Diamond League in Sweden.

When quizzed about breaching the 90m target in Oregon, Neeraj shared how he is focused on putting up his best effort in every throw. He is not much bothered on breaching 90m as he feels that it will happen sooner or later. “I don’t usually focus on distance but try to give my 100 percent in every competition. I try to perform with my whole energy because I believe in giving full effort in every competition. I am very close to 90m, missed it by 6cm at the Diamond League. I am hoping to cross the 90m mark very soon,” the Olympic champion said in a virtual interaction from Eugene.

The javelin event will be having some of the  greatest talents from different parts of the world. Neeraj also expects the competition to be very tough and believes that it is going to be very difficult for him. “This (World Athletics Championships) is the biggest competition of the year for me. Most of the top athletes are here and I believe the javelin event is going to be very closely contested,” he added.

Lastly the 24-year-old shared how he is enjoying his time in Eugene training with world class athletes. He shares how the weather is very different from India. He also revealed how he gets inspired working out with different athletes all over the globe.  “The main difference here as compared to India is the weather. Apart from that most of the top athletes are here and you get inspired just my spending time with them in the gym. I have met javelin legend Jan Zelezny a couple of times and he is a hero of mine,” Neeraj Chopra concluded.

The Golden boy of India will be in action on Friday, July 22 for the Javelin qualification event with the finals scheduled on July 24.