Chopra focused on Asian Games after Worlds gold

India’s newly crowned javelin world champion Neeraj Chopra said on Friday he was focused on staying injury-free in pursuit of a second consecutive Asian Games gold in China’s Hangzhou later this month.
Reigning Olympic champion Chopra, 25, added a javelin world title to his sizeable medal collection last Sunday at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, where he recorded a best throw of 88.17m.
On Thursday, he missed out on a victory for the first time this season at the Zurich Diamond League. Chopra went very close to pulling off a win in his last throw. He went in trailing Czech rival Jakub Vadlejch (85.86m to 85.22m) and produced his best throw of the series but fell just short of the win with 85.71m. Germany’s Julian Weber was third with 85.04m.
The flamboyant athlete has been troubled by shoulder pain along with a groin injury from training in May, which led to him missing several competitions. He told reporters that he still hoped to give 100 percent to the Diamond League final in the United States on September 17 and the Asian Games starting the week after.
“There will be a lot of travelling... I want to play both the competitions well and without any injury,” he said. “There’s not much time left now, I will have to prepare myself well. There is a big time difference and I will try my best.”
Chopra, who also took gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, said javelin was a high-risk sport and he had found it difficult to maintain peak fitness between strenuous travel commitments and frequent competitions. “Many times you have to understand your body and see which competition is more important,” he added.
Injured Momota out of Asiad
Struggling former badminton world number one Kento Momota has pulled out of this month’s Asian Games because of injury, the Japanese Olympic Committee said on Friday. Momota, whose world ranking has tumbled to 48 after a series of disappointing performances and injuries, had been chosen to play for Japan in the men’s team event at the September 23-October 8 Games in China’s Hangzhou.
He was replaced by world number 30 Koki Watanabe. Momota’s career has been in free fall since a car crash three years ago left him badly hurt and killed the driver of the vehicle he was travelling in.
He won a record-breaking 11 titles in 2019, losing just six of the 73 matches he played and looking every inch a legend in the making.
Then came the crash, which left him with double vision and required surgery on a bone near his eye. Momota, who turned 29 on Friday, lost in the last 16 of the men’s singles competition at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta but went on to win bronze in the men’s team event.
He lost to Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the first round of the Australian Open at his latest tournament appearance last month. He also lost in the first round to Watanabe at the Japan Open in Tokyo in July. Momota did not appear at last month’s world championships in Copenhagen.