A player who has gained about 14 kg in connection with the Olympic reception, who has started training late than other athletes on the world circuit, if the same athlete manages to improve his national record twice in a month, The Diamond League seven-time failure turns into a success in Stockholm edition, he gets very close (89.94m) to the amazing 90m feat and if he makes it to the final after finishing second among all the athletes of the World Championship, what would you call it… miracle, the spirit of victory or something else.
Neeraj Chopra has an opportunity to win a gold in the ongoing World Championship in Oregon (USA) after winning olympic gold. But this task is not that easy. Grenada’s Anderson Peter is the biggest obstacle in Neeraj’s path. Not only has he surpassed Neeraj at every stage this year, but also he has crossed the 90m barrier in the Doha and Stockholm Diamond Leagues by a significant margin. In Doha, he has also set a new record with a performance of 93.07, while the same athlete could not even qualify for the final of the Tokyo Olympics. These two have been arch rivals of each other since their under-20 days but Neeraj’s coin was more in the senior category.
On the other hand, Anderson Peter has come out in a different style this year where no one is visible even near his performance. One fundamental difference between Neeraj and Anderson is that Anderson is better in speed and arm strength on the runway. His speed is good because he considers Usain Bolt as his idol and inspired by him, he completes the 100 meter race in 10.5 seconds. However, Neeraj has already improved a lot in both these areas. For strength, he does squats by lifting 140 kg weight. Although this weight is about 20 kg less than his preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, his shoulders have been strengthened by practice. Speed has increased on the runway. He is at least better than Anderson in terms of performing well in adverse conditions, mental toughness and injuries. If Injures had not given up on Anderson, he would certainly have been an Olympic or world champion today.
By the way, Neeraj performed 89.30m in Pavo Nurmi Games, had raised hopes of reaching the final of this championship. When he finished 89.94m in the Stockholm Diamond League (90 meters to 6 cms away), it was almost certain that this brave athlete is going to do something in the World Championship this time which no Indian athlete has done before him. That is, even better than Anju Bobby George’s bronze medal success in the long jump event in 2003. Anju has been the only Indian athlete to have won a medal in this prestigious championship.
The angle of Neeraj’s javelin is generally 34 to 36 degrees, which is ideal, which has enabled him to perform consistently. He has improved the release angle of Javelin in the last few months. To increase the arm speed, he uses a lightweight javelin (700 grams) which is about a hundred grams less than the weight of the senior class javelin.
Before the Tokyo Olympics, a light javelin helped him increase arm speed. His German coach also helped him a lot in increasing his speed on the run up, which is why he won the gold medal in the Kuortane Games with a performance of 86.69 meters despite the slippery runway. Besides Andersen Peter, his other rivals are Julian Weber of Germany and Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic. Jakub finished second only to Neeraj in the Tokyo Olympics, but the fact is that he is far from the 2017 World Championship form (89.73m). Germany’s Julian Weber finished third behind Neeraj in the qualifying round on Wednesday. This is the time for prayers. It is time to pray for this brave athlete as he is just one step away from creating history.
