Athletics
Neeraj Chopra rubbishes report of injury as he skips Ostrava Golden Spikes
The Olympic champion said there is no injury, but he will not compete at the Ostrava Golden Spikes event on May 28.
Neeraj Chopra's roar of victory after winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. (Photo Credit: Reddit)
Olympic and World Championships gold medallist Neeraj Chopra rubbished the report of his injury and said he pulled out of the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic, scheduled for May 28, as a precautionary measure after he felt "something" on his adductor muscles during a recent training session.
Neeraj's clarification came just hours after the organisers of the prestigious meet claimed that he decided to withdraw from the event due to an injury he suffered while training two weeks ago.
"Due to an injury that he sustained in training two weeks ago (adductor muscle) he will not be able to throw in Ostrava, but he will arrive at the event as a guest," the organisers of Golden Spike said earlier in the day.
Neeraj, however, said he does not want to risk injury in the Olympic year, hence he decided to give the event a miss.
"Following a recent throwing session, I decided not to compete in Ostrava as I felt something in my adductor. I have had problems with it in the past and pushing it at this stage can lead to injury," said Neeraj.
"Just to clarify, I am not injured but I don't want to take any risk during the Olympic year so had to take this decision. Once I feel it's fully recovered, I will get back to competitions," he added.
This was supposed to be Neeraj's first appearance at the Golden Spike meet, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold level event, where several stars of athletics will be competing, including Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, Diamond League winner and 2023 world championships bronze winner Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, and former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.
Neeraj participated in two events this year - the Doha Diamond League, where he finished second behind Jakub, and the Federation Cup.
Neeraj threw the javelin at a distance of 88.36 metres at the Doha Diamond League on May 10 before making a comeback to the domestic circuit at the Federation Cup after three years on May 15. He won the event with a throw of 82.27m, pipping DP Manu.
Neeraj, earlier, said that he would take part in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland on June 18.
