Big Blow! Neeraj Chopra to miss CWG 2022 due to injury
India’s ace javelin thrower and Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner Neeraj Chopra will miss the Commonwealth Games 2022, scheduled to be held in Birmingham. As per the reports, the ace Javeline thrower is missing out on the quadrennial event due to a thigh injury that he sustained during World Athletics Championships 2022.
“Team India javelin thrower Mr. Neeraj Chopra had called me earlier today from the US to convey his inability to take part in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games owing to fitness concerns. Following his participation in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Mr. Chopra had an MRI scan done on Monday and, based on it, he has been advised a month’s rest by his medical team”, Rajeev Mehta, IOA Secretary General, told ANI confirming the omission of India’s star athlete from CWG 2022.
Neeraj Chopra was the current defending champion of the Commonwealth Games javelin throw event. He had won the gold in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. The recent report comes just days ahead of the CWG 2022 after Neeraj bagged a silver medal in the men’s Javelin throw event of the World Athletics Championship 2022 at Eugene, Oregon.
Earlier, Chopra gave an injury scare to his fans, revealing that he had actually felt something on his thigh after his silver-medal clinching throw. It indeed turned out to be true as the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist had to pull out of CWG 2022.
Unfortunately, what the Haryana-born athlete feared came to be true. This come as a huge blow for the Indian contingent at the Birmingham games, as Chopra was expected to bring home a gold medal in Javelin, having done so at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in Gold coast.
In his fourth attempt in the recently World Athletics Championship 2022, the Indian javelin thrower managed to record a throw of 88.13m to become the only second Indian athlete to win a medal at World Athletics Championships. After the win, Chopra revealed that he felt some tightness on his thigh after his medal-winning fourth throw.
“I thought even the fourth throw could have gone farther. After that, I felt something on my thigh and could not do my best in the next two. I had strapping (on the thigh). I will know the status tomorrow morning because my body is still warm after the event. I hope there should not be any issue for the upcoming events, Commonwealth Games,” he had said after his historic win at the athletics championship.
