In Zurich, focus was to stay healthy before Diamond League finals, says Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra finished second at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday with a best throw of 85.71 metres. He had three legal throws of 80.79m, 85.22m and 85.71m while producing three fouls. He finished just behind Jakub Vadlejch (85.86m) of the Czech Republic.

The performance in Zurich came just four days after Neeraj won a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships, with a throw of 88.17m, in Budapest. The 25-year-old admitted he was a little tired after the work put in at the Worlds.

“I feel very good now, because everyone is a little tired after the World Championships. We gave our 100 per cent there (in Budapest), but for this competition here my focus was to just stay healthy, and we have to focus now for Eugene (Diamond League finals on September 17) and then the (Hangzhou) Asian Games (from September 23).”

Chopra qualified for the Diamond League finals in Eugene, USA, with 23 points from three meets in Doha, Lausanne and Zurich. He had won the Diamond League finals trophy last year.

Neeraj qualified third for the finals behind Jakub Vadlejch (29 points) and Julian Webber (25 points).

The Indian star athlete has had couple of injury concerns. He picked up a groin strain while training in May-June and complained of shoulder and back pain towards the end of last week.

“For me, the focus was just to stay healthy and to give my 100 per cent in my next competitions. Sometimes we need to read our body. Today, I feel OK, I am 100 percent OK, but I did not push too much.

“Sometimes, our number one goal is to stay healthy. Today, I gave it my best but still with the focus to stay healthy. I usually do my winter training in Europe, because it is a lot easier to travel, that’s why I spent some time in Loughborough (England) for some months before competing in Budapest this summer,” added Chopra.