Neera Chopra (PTI Photo) Indian Javelin Ace Neeri Chopra has been struggling with a back problem in the last two weeks, which could have influenced his performance in the World Championship in Tokyo on Thursday. Indian athletics (AFI) official told PTI that Chopra reported them on this matter, and the double Olympic medalist also admitted it after the competition.Chopra, who defended the gold he won in 2023, endured the disappointment of the trip and finished eighth, while the countryman Sachin Yadav impressed personal best to ensure fourth place.“Yes, it is true that Chopra has been concerned about the back problem in the last few weeks. He informed us about it,” Afi official said on condition of anonymity.“That (the problem back) had to influence his performance, but he shouldn’t take care of it. Win and loss in sports. Moreover, Javelin is such an event that you don’t have to click too well and anything else on a certain day.”Chopra picked up this problem during training in the Czech Republic under his coach Jan Zeleznym.On the day of no thrower could not exceed 90 meters, Chopra was the best of 84.03 m came in the fifth round and left it eighth, while Yadav finished fourth with 86.27 m efforts on his first attempt.Yadav’s performance, the clerk said, showing the growing depth of India in the spear.After his rare eighth place, Chopra said, “It happens after a long time. I normally controlled the situation, but it was another day.“But before I came here, during training in the Czech Republic I had my back and because of that I have not trained in the last two weeks.“We didn’t even know at first whether I could compete or not. But we decided to compete. I didn’t feel healthy, I didn’t have much training.”He explained how the injury happened, he said, “The incident occurred 4. September.“We made MRI in Prague and there was a problem on the disk. After we got here on 6 September, I underwent treatment with the machine every day. We performed (testing) session and decided to compete.”He added that during the qualification came “easy throw”, but in the finals could not replicate this form.
