He is probably the best athlete the country has produced in throws so far. But what are under-20 World champion Neeraj Chopra’s chances at the Asians here?
“It is looking dangerous in men’s javelin, we have the Chinese Taipei thrower Chao-Tsun Cheng in the fray,” said Radhakrishnan Nair, the Deputy National Coach. “In fact, Annu Rani (women’s javelin throw) has a better chance of getting a gold.” But Australian Garry Calvert, who coached Neeraj to the under-20 World record apart from the gold last year in Poland, feels that the youngster could take the top honour here.
“Currently, I think Neeraj is positioned well. The Taiwanese is in good form but I see him dropping distance soon. And India is a hot box and I think most countries will struggle there”. Chao-Tsun, now No. 8 in the IAAF’s performance list this season, had consistently beaten Neeraj in the recent Asian Grand Prix series and produced his personal best of 86.92m in one of its rounds in Jiaxing.
But Neeraj (personal best 86.48m, season best 85.63) is in great form now and finished a creditable fifth in the IAAF Diamond League’s Paris leg recently.
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