Injured Neeraj Chopra to miss Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Olympics star Neeraj Chopra will not be a part of the Commonwealth Games 2022.

Rajeev Mehta, Secretary General, IOA told ANI, “He is not fit as he got injured in the finals of the World Athletics Championships”. Neeraj was set to be India’s flag-bearer during Thursday’s opening ceremony. Rajveev Mehta said a decision on the new flag-bearer will be taken soon in discussion with other IOA office-bearers.

In Neeraj’s absence it will be upto Rohit Yadav and DP Manu to try and finish on the podium. However, it will be complicated because of the presence of Peters, the world reigning champion and 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott. Also in the mix will be Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who finished 5th at the World Championships. Manu has a personal best of 84.35m, while Yadav too throws 82.54m.

Neeraj had said after Saturday’s final, that he would be able to gauge the extent of his injury once his body cools down and had implied he wouldn’t take any risks vis-à-vis the CWG.

Chopra’s physio Ishaan Marwaha told ToI, “Initially he would just push himself through pain. Now he has matured. He knows it is ok not to train when he has not slept well. He knows there is no point doing a morning session without full recovery. He will tell us if he is feeling tightness around say the shoulder or the hip. If the coach says you have to do a 90 kg squat or 90 kg snatch and if he feels he is not able to do it he will give his feedback. He knows how to prevent injury”.

This injury also puts a question mark over Neeraj’s Diamond League participation. He was to participate in the Lausanne Diamond League on 26th August. He had finished 2nd in Stockholm and was aiming to qualify for the final in Zurich on September 7 and 8.