By David Dolan
TOKYO (Reuters) -Neeraj Chopra’s return to the site of his Olympic triumph turned into a painful reality check on Thursday as he finished a dismal eighth in the men’s javelin at the world championships in Tokyo after secretly battling a back injury for weeks.
Competing in the same arena where he claimed India’s first Olympic athletics gold in 2021, Chopra could only muster a best throw of 84.03 metres on Thursday — worse than his qualifying mark from the previous day.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott clinched his first global title since he claimed Olympic gold as a teenager in 2012 with a throw of 88.16 metres while Grenada’s Anderson Peters and American Curtis Thompson completed the podium.
“I don’t understand what happened today. This has not happened for a long time. I had some problems before coming to Tokyo,” said Chopra, who was defending his 2023 world title.
“Two weeks ago I had some back issues but I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was thinking I would still manage to get through it. But javelin is really tough. If you are not in a good shape, you’re out.
“Normally it doesn’t happen with me because for a long time, I was always in top two positions. After a long time I’m not in the position, but it’s okay I will learn from today and I will try to stay healthy and try to focus on my technique.”
Chopra said he hurt his back on September 4 and then had an MRI scan, adding that he was not at 100%.
“Maybe I need more training or to improve my technique. Maybe I just need more time for training,” Chopra added.
“But it’s life, it’s sport. I have to accept it and move on. Competing two days in a row was not a problem. It was OK because I qualified yesterday with my first throw.
“It was not too far but I was thinking it was still good, and that I could throw further today. I will go back to my room, watch the competition and check on my throws. I will work on it.”
(Reporting by David Dolan in Tokyo, Writing by Rohith Nair in BengaluruEditing by Toby Davis)
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