Move to skip Ostrava's Golden Spike meet only a precautionary measure: Neeraj Chopra

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra clarified that he is not injured. The move to pull out of the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Czech Republic on May 28 is just a precautionary measure. 

He said that during a training session, he felt "something" in his adductor muscles. To avoid injury in an Olympic year, he has decided to skip the prestigious meet.

The javelin throw champion was scheduled to compete in Czech Republic this week but now has pulled out of the competition. Neeraj Chopra was expected to participate in Ostrava's Golden Spike meet on May 28. 

The organisers had issued a statement earlier stating that the Indian javelin throw champion will not be competing in the meet due to an injury.

“The organizers did note a message from the Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra. Due to an injury that he sustained in training two weeks ago (adductor muscle) he will not be able to throw in Ostrava,” the statement read.

“He will arrive at the event as a guest,” it added.

Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in the men's javelin final at Bhubaneshwar's Kalinga Stadium with a stellar effort of 82.27m. He stopped after four throws at the Stadium on Wednesday, May 15. The throw was much below his personal best of 88.94m which he achieved during the Stockholm Diamond League back in 2022.

"Let's not talk about the throw, it was not up to it. This one is not one of my consistent performances," Neeraj had said after the event

"It felt great to compete in India after a long time. I wanted to play in India and I performed according to the conditions, and the way my body was feeling. I have some big competitions coming up. I thought DP Manu would take over but his javelin kept landing quickly," Neeraj added.

Neeraj had an injury spree last year where he struggled with multiple issues. In May last year, Neeraj sustained a muscle strain during training and had to withdraw from the FBK Games in Hengelo.