“Had Hopes Of Doing Better Than I Did”: Neeraj Chopra To NDTV After Winning World Athletics Championships Silver

Javelin throw ace Neeraj Chopra said that he had hopes of performing better than he did after he won the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships. The Olympic champion registered a best throw of 88.13m to pip the likes of Jakub Vadlejch and Julian Weber to the silver medal, while Anderson Peters of Grenada won the gold medal with a monster 90.54m throw. It was only India’s second medal at the World Championships, after Anju Bobby George’s bronze in 2003.

Speaking to NDTV, Neeraj said he is happy with the silver medal but wants to convert it into a gold in the next edition.

“It’s feeling good. It’s pretty great because I won silver at the World Championships. But there is always desire for gold, so I will try to improve my performance in the next World Championships,” he told NDTV.

Chopra had started poorly, and was fourth in the standings after his first three throws, but then produced his silver-winning throw in his fourth attempt.

“My first few throws were not that good and he (Anderson Peters) had already thrown pretty well till then. It was challenging,” he said on his comeback.

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“But somewhere inside, I had belief that I would do well. I had hopes that I would do better than I did. But still, I am happy with what I have achieved. Because you should learn from every competition. And hopefully I will learn from today and do better in the next competition.”

Chopra also went on to say that the competition is more difficult in the World Athletics Champions as compared to the Olympics.