Olympian Neeraj Chopra To Visit Odisha For 27th National Federation Cup Athletics Championships From May 12-15

Bhubaneswar: Neeraj Chopra will be competing in India after a long time. He will be in action at the 27th National Federation Cup athletics championships which will be held from May 12 to May 15 at the Kalinga Stadium.

This will be Neeraj’s first domestic competition since the 2021 Federation Cup.

Before the Federation Cup, the World Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champion will be taking part at the Doha Diamond League meet on May 10. Neeraj will be competing in the men’s javelin throw event in Doha along with compatriot Kishore Jena.

Neeraj had spoken about his goals for the season previously.

“I want to be in best possible shape before the Paris Olympics. My training sessions have gone off really well so far. I always lay stress on fitness along with strength and technique. This is the best I have felt in a long time but I must add that training and competition are not the same. When you wear the India jersey, the feeling is different, the josh (energy) is unbelievable,” Neeraj told SAI Media.

Talking about the elusive 90-metre mark, the 26-year-old Neeraj said again that ‘distance doesn’t matter to him.’

“What matters to me is staying 100 per cent fit, being consistent during the season and delivering on the day that matters. I think there are mistakes to fix and looking at the increasing competition all around, one has to keep improving. The road will close if you think you have done it all,” he was quoted as saying.

Talking about how his performance in Tokyo indicated that his preparation for global tournaments was going in the right direction, Neeraj said, “I have won medals in two World Championships, threw my personal best (89.94 metres at Stockholm), won a dream Diamond League title and even defended my gold at the Asian Games. All in all, I have been in great space and want to carry forward that momentum from May onwards.”