It will be a different kind of challenge: Neeraj Chopra

HANGZHOU: Neeraj Chopra started his journey towards greatness in athletics at the Asian Games in 2018 in Jakarta. It was the year that Chopra won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and followed it up by bagging the gold at the Asian Games in Jakarta.

As he returns to the Asian Games once again in the 19th edition at Hangzhou, life has totally transformed for the 25-year-old from Sonipat in Haryana. In his journey so far, Chopra has won the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, won the Diamond League Final in 2022 and this year fulfilled his dream by winning the title in the World Championships in Budapest.

So, as he gets ready to defend the Asian Games title that he won in Jakarta, a lot of other things have also changed for Chopra.

“When I was participating in Jakarta, I had no pressure, nobody expected a lot from Games Village, do my stuff and enjoy myself,” he said.

Now Chopra carries the expectations of the entire nation, people expect him to win every time he steps up on the runway to throw his javelin, everyone in the athletics team looks up to him and people including other partici-pating sportspersons lineup to take photographs and selfies with him.

Earlier, Chopra was eager to get photos clicked with cricketers, treated as demigods in India. Now, even the cricketers are eager to get photos clicked with him as did the Indian men’s cricket team in the Asian Games village in Hangzhou on Friday.

“Now the cricketers are also part of the Games like these. Last year the women’s team played in the Common-wealth Games and now both the men’s and women’s teams are here in Hangzhou. There are attempts to make it part of the Olympics too. So, it feels nice to meet them here. I felt very good after meeting them yesterday,” said Neeraj Chopra during a press conference on Saturday. IANS

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