Neeraj Chopra will compete in India after three years, but why? – First position

Neeraj Chopra has not competed in India since becoming Olympic champion in Tokyo. This long wait should end on Wednesday. The golden boy of Indian athletics is set to compete in the men’s javelin throw final of the ongoing Federation Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, with his event starting at 7 pm IST.

Since the news broke last week that India’s first Olympic gold medalist in athletics would be traveling to India for a competitive event, there has been palpable excitement in the Indian athletics fraternity and among the people who cover it.

On Tuesday, the press conference room at Kalinga Stadium was filled with nearly 60 journalists in anticipation of the arrival of the current world champion, but he did not show up. The pre-men’s javelin final press conference, scheduled for 8 p.m. IST, began well after 8:30 p.m. and without Neeraj.

Apparently there was a communication problem.

The 26-year-old only landed in Bhubaneswar late in the evening, ruling out any possibility of a press conference or training session on the eve of the javelin event. But the rushed planning for him to compete in India when that was not part of the original plan begs the question: why is the Olympic champion taking such a risk?

At the same press conference that Neeraj missed, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) President Adille Sumariwalla made it clear that all Indian athletes qualified for or in contention for the 2024 Paris Olympics have been invited to participate in national competitions.

While others are required to mark their presence at the inter-state championships in Panchkula next month, the Federation Cup was chosen for Neeraj due to his unavailability in June.

“We have made it clear that every athlete will participate in the inter-state championships in India,” Sumariwalla said. “But the Paris Diamond League clashes with the Inter-State Championships and we believe that the Paris Diamond League will be very important for him (Neeraj) before the Olympics. So he is the only one who has received special permission to participate in the Federation.

The AFI surely has valid reasons to ask Neeraj to come to India and compete in a national competition, but this means a second consecutive competitive outing for the javelin thrower in two weeks.

Last week he competed in the Doha Diamond League, finishing second with a throw of 88.36m.

Now, you don’t need to be an expert to understand that rest and recovery are probably the most important things Neeraj needs right now. After all, minimal travel, ample time to recover, and carefully planned competition programs have always been the keys to success for most elite athletes.

The fact that he didn’t train the day before the event while another javelin star, Kishore Jena, had an intense session on Tuesday is enough of an indicator that Neeraj is probably saving himself an unnecessary workload or that he probably couldn’t carve out enough time for training in his busy schedule.

But lack of training can also be dangerous in humid Bhubaneswar where the temperature can reach 36 degrees Celsius.

Maybe, just maybe, the best thing would have been to give him an exception, like the last two years.