Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra suffers injury in the middle of his Diamond League performance

One of the brightest prospects for Indian athletics, 19-year old Neeraj Goyat was hit with a groin injury during his participation at the Diamond League Meetings finals. Subsequently, he was forced to skip the last two rounds of his event ongoing in Zurich.

He was forced to not compete in the fifth and final rounds of his throw due to this injury. Every athlete gets six chances at a throw.

Neeraj seemed visibly discomforted since the beginning of his attempts. He fouled his second round throw. By the third, he managed to procure a distance of 83.39m. This is the one throw that counted and it gave him a seventh place finish among the strong eight-man field.

According to Neeraj’s statement to PTI, the pain began by the end of the third round of throws itself.

“During the third round throw, I had a groin injury. I tried for the fourth throw but (because of the pain) I stopped at the run-up, did not do running in,” he was quoted as saying from Zurich.

The lack of a run-in is what disqualified his fourth throw. That was when Neeraj decided to sit out the remaining rounds.

“It (injury) is not minor, it is much more than that. If it was minor I would have continued and attempted the final two throws,” he added when asked about the nature of the injury.

Neeraj has a personal best of 85.63m and a personal best of 86.48m. Previously, Chopra had finished a respectable fifth place in the Paris leg of the League in June. A month later, he secured a seventh place finish in the Monaco edition of the Diamond League thus forcing the Indian sporting audience to sit up and take notice of him.

As last reported, the Athletics Federation of India had no news of any developments in this case. “I have not done any medical examination. I have to catch a flight and I am returning home,” said Neeraj.

At the end of the Zurich chapter, Neeraj has amassed six League points which helped him finish in eighth place overall. World Championships silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch from the Czech Republic finished as the winner with a best throw of 88.50m while reigning Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany and Tero Pitkamaki of Finland were second and third with 86.59m and 886.57m respectively.