Neeraj Chopra aims to shatter 90m-barrier at World Championship, says 'want to get better than I am'

Neeraj Chopra will be wishing for another memorable throw and hopes to join a list that has only one Indian name – former long jumper Anju Bobby George, who had won the bronze medal at the 2003 Paris World Championships.

A year since bagging a historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, 24-year-old Neeraj Chopra is set on a new quest. He is projected as a top contender to win a medal at the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Oregon, a competition where India is yet to make its presence felt having won just one medal in the previous 17 editions. With a billion expectations riding on his shoulders, Neeraj will be wishing for another memorable throw and hopes to join a list that has only one Indian name – former long jumper Anju Bobby George, who had won the bronze medal at the 2003 Paris World Championships.

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra throws a javelin while training (Under Armour)

In the build up to the World Championship, Neeraj produced some spectacular efforts, with the latest being at the Stockholm Diamond League in the beginning of the month. Neeraj had then touched the 89.94m mark, thus smashing his own previous national record to set a new one. The throw saw him surpass the previous record of 89.30m achieved during the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku last month.

Neeraj, for the longest time, has been dreaming of breaching the 90-meter mark and this time is no different. A record throw to get India another historic medal would be the icing on the cake for Neeraj, who has already etched himself in Indian Olympic sports only at the age of 24.

"I once read 'even if you win, the next day you're back to work; even if you lose, next day you're back to work'. So I believe this is really important. No matter what happens, if you're working on a goal, you don't focus on winning and losing, you just keep working with the same passion and I try to follow the same theory. This is sports so there's plenty of ups and downs, so I compete against myself to get better than what I already am," Neeraj said during a press conference.

Neeraj is present at Eugene, Oregon University, the venue of the World Championship and trains at a stadium nearby. He will be seen in action in the qualifying round, which is scheduled for the coming Friday (July 22 as per IST). Talking about his World Championships ambitions, the star athlete said: "I'm very close to 90m, I reached 89.94m so I'm short by 6 centimeters, so my aim this year is to cross 90m."

Neeraj, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, who signed a multi-year deal with sports brand Under Armour, said he would rather sink into a moment instead of being extra calculative before heading to a competition. "I don't focus on the distance that I can achieve while entering a competition. I try to enjoy the sport and give my 100 percent and I will enter the World Championships with the same mindset, the amount of training I've done, the energy I have, I need to put in all."

In fact, to keep himself mentally refreshed, Neeraj tries to engage in other sports. "On days when there is no training, or on Sundays I play basketball, table-tennis, or volleyball. We play different sports and I think we should have the skills to play multiple sports. And it also helps us mentally relax by playing other sports," he said.