'NEED STRONG MIND TO PERFORM WELL'

Neeraj Chopra has had a good break following a big season. As he recharges his batteries ahead of another big year, the Worlds and the Asian Games among other events, the Olympic champion spoke to this newspaper on a variety of topics. Indraneel Das took notes...

- Indraneel Das

How do you look back at your season?

This season has been very good. For us, the Commonwealth Games was also a part of our big plan and because of the injury, we could not go to Birmingham. Otherwise, wherever I went, like the World Championships and the Diamond League events, I came back with good throws. Whatever we had planned, we went about it.

Where did you go after the Diamond League Finals? Did you manage to go to coach Klaus Bartonietz’s home in Germany)?

We could not go. I went with my uncle and there were two friends and we roamed around, mostly in Switzerland. Then we returned to India. In between, we went to Paris also. If we are in Europe, we cannot miss Paris. It’s a famous place. Even the (2024) Olympics are supposed to be held there, so we thought we must visit the place. Could not go to the stadium (Olympics venue). Went to the Eiffel Tower and we were there for two days.

How vital is this break?

Whatever work we have, especially our personal work, we take care of that. One must try to keep their fitness intact. One-two weeks is alright but one cannot stay away from training. We stay at home and look after our personal work. At the same time, we train to stay fit.

Last time you struggled to keep your weight in check and had to work hard to shed that extra bit. Have you managed to keep check on that this time?