Short of his personal best, Neeraj Chopra finishes as the best

Neeraj Chopra bag gold at the Sotteville Athletics meet. (Source: File Photo)

NEERAJ CHOPRA was among the two elite athletes who received a special exemption from the Inter State Meet, the selection trials for the Asian Games, which feature is held in Guwahati in April. Neeraj, and especially his coach Uwe Hohn, did not want more interruption to their training program, especially after a "long break" after the Commonwealth Games.

After a few short periods with Uwe Hohn, the first and only athlete to cross the 100m mark, Neeraj decided to train under German in Finland with other campers since May. Their partnership seems to have clicked since Neeraj produced a gold pitch winner at the Athletics meeting in Sotteville on Tuesday. Neeraj took the lead with 85.17 meters ahead of Moldova's Andrian Mardare (79.31m) and Edis Matusevicius (79.31) of Lithuania. Although the Germans were absent from the pool, London Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott finished the race in fifth place.

The Neeraj throw in France was about 2m from his personal best of 87.47m. Diamond League, but Hohn insists it was part of the plan. "We know that he has to be in great shape in Jakarta and that's the plan.We knew it was like that he would play here." What we understood from his throws yesterday, it's that he can easily add a few more meters to his throw, "Hohn said to The Indian Express

Upon his arrival, Hohn had made it clear that there was some defects in Neeraj's technique needed to be ironed.And the German is happy that uninterrupted training in Finland helped to solve these problems.

we worked on were power and technique. We did a lot of lifting of fake throws. Earlier, he put more pressure on his elbow and this caused problems. Now he raises his hands much higher and puts his shoulder under the javelin, which reduces the pressure on his elbow, "says Hohn.

Neeraj returned to Finland where he will resume training under Hohn. young Panipat says that he has not set a target for this meeting and that his ultimate goal will be well played at Asiad. "I trained very hard and happy with the way things "

The 20-year-old will probably compete in another competition before flying to Jakarta, Neeraj will have to wait a little longer for the visit." go home only after the Asian Games. "With a gold medal around the neck, I hope.

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