“It is definitely difficult. There have been times when I was very well prepared and suddenly suffered an injury. Because this has happened quite a few times in my career, “It has become a little normal for me.
The 28-year-old, who won India’s first Olympic gold medal in athletics with his javelin triumph at Tokyo and followed it up with a silver in Paris, missed out on a chance to complete a hat-trick of Asian Games gold medals after suffering a ligament injury while training. The injury came soon after Chopra produced a season-best throw of 88.05m at the Lausanne Diamond League, bringing his 2026 competitive season to an early end and ruling him out of the Asian Games and the Diamond League Final.
India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra termed his absence from the Asian Games unfortunate but said it was important to “accept” the setback and focus on making a quick comeback. I wouldn’t say it is easy,” he said on the Khelo Bharat Podcast of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
“Even after winning many things, you still feel that if you had been able to use that time without the injury, perhaps even better things could have happened. Then, just a day later, I got injured again during training. The first few minutes were very difficult for me. “I kept thinking that after doing so much, I had ended up back at the same place where I was at the beginning of the year. “I felt bad, and I allowed myself to go through that process. I didn’t fight with myself and say, ‘Forget it, it’s okay. I felt really bad initially. “But I think the best thing for an athlete when an injury happens is to accept it as quickly as possible. I thought, ‘It has happened. “I would simply tell them to give their best.
Because he felt he had finally returned to his best after recovering from an earlier setback, chopra said the latest injury was particularly frustrating. So that’s what I did. “When I felt that I was finally back to being the old Neeraj again, with the same enthusiasm and consistency, I threw 88 metres.
I couldn’t process what was happening,” he said. The former Olympic champion said he allowed himself to feel disappointed rather than trying to immediately brush the setback aside. Now let’s work on how to make a comeback.'” Chopra further said the timing of the injury was unfortunate, with several major competitions lined up, but said he had shifted his focus towards next year. You get opportunities like the Games once every four years, so don’t leave with anything in your mind that makes you feel later, ‘I could have done this’,” he said.
“Finally, I’m home. But it’s okay. At least I’ve got some family time at home.
Because of the injury, that didn’t happen, it’s a different matter that I had a different goal for this year, but.
But Chopra said the athlete in him would soon want to return to training. “I would say one thing: I took five years to cross 80 metres,” he said.
