Need More Indian Athletes At Top Events: Neeraj Chopra

Zurich: Neeraj Chopra, who clinched his first Diamond League title, urged the national federation and other stakeholders to encourage more track and field Athletes to participate in international events and against the top-class competition, so that he does not remain the lone Indian participating in events abroad.

“It is quite unusual that despite Indian Athletes doing well in the Commonwealth Games and the World Championships, I was the only Indian competing in Zurich.I see other countries have a team of Athletes competing in various disciplines and I want India too should send a big contingent for such events,” Neeraj said on Friday during a virtual interaction from Zurich facilitated by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI)

“I feel that more Indian Athletes should participate in international events, they are doing well currently and are getting to participate in a lot of domestic events.I would urge the AFI, SAI, and ministry to encourage more Indians to participate in international competitions.

We need more Indians to compete against top Athletes, the world-class competitions so that we can do better in events like Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games,” said Chopra.”It feels good that other Indian Athletes are also doing well, like at CWG and our guys did well in the World Championships too, though they did not get into podium position. I will request the national federation to provide them with more chances to participate in international events and help them with foreign training stints.”

So, we should be able to reap the rewards at the international events,” said Chopra.Chopra has had a superb season as he won silver in the World Championships in Oregon (USA) and excelled in the Diamond League, capping it off with the trophy in the Diamond League Final, in which he was participating for the third time.