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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Olympic and World Championships gold medalist Neeraj Chopra following his silver medal win at the ongoing Paris Olympics and congratulated him for his second successive medal at the marquee event.
PM Modi also enquired about Neeraj's injury and lauded the sportsman spirit showed by his mother Saroj, who congratulated Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem for getting the gold and setting an Olympic record.
The Prime Minister said during the phone call, "You made the country proud again. Even late at night at 1 AM, people were watching you in action, looking at you with hope."
He lauded Neeraj for managing to deliver consistent performances despite his recent fitness issues.
Neeraj said that he could not push himself fully because of his injuries and the competition was tough.
"I am still happy to get a medal for my country in these circumstances. There are ups and downs in sport," he added.
Chopra fell short of retaining his gold medal in the men's javelin throw at the ongoing marquee event securing silver with a best throw of 89.45 meters.
Nadeem won gold with a throw of 92.97 meters, setting a new Olympic record and surpassing Denmark's Andreas Thorkildsen's mark from Beijing 2008. Grenada's Anderson Peters secured bronze with a throw of 88.54 meters.
Earlier, Chopra had achieved a throw of 89.34 meters in the Group B qualification round, his second-best all-time throw. Despite a competitive rivalry with Nadeem, where Chopra led 9-0 in their head-to-head matchups, Nadeem's throw of 90.18 meters at the 2022 Commonwealth Games exceeded Chopra's top effort.
Grenada's Anderson Peters secured the bronze with an 88.54 meters throw.
Following the failure to defend his gold medal, Neeraj expressed dissatisfaction with his performance and revealed that the last two to three years were not good for him in terms of fitness.
Speaking after the event as quoted by Olympics.com, Neeraj said, "It was a good throw but I am not that happy with my performance today. My technique and runway was not that good. (I managed) only one throw, the rest I fouled."
"(For my) second throw I believed in myself to think I can also throw that far. But in javelin, if your run is not so good, you cannot throw very far," added Neeraj.
The Indian ace javelin thrower, who also is the current Asian Games champion, said that injuries leading upto his title defence in Paris made some difference and he will have to work on being injury-free and on his technique.
"The last two or three years were not so good for me. I am always injured. I really tried hard, but I have to work on my injury (staying injury-free) and technique," the 26-year-old added.
Neeraj's mother, Saroj Devi, was delighted with her son's achievement.
"We are very happy. For us, silver is as valuable as gold. The gold medalist is also like our son. Despite his injury, we are proud of our son's performance. I will cook his favourite meal," she said speaking to ANI.
Satish, Neeraj's father, was proud after witnessing Neeraj's performance and felt it was Pakistan's day in the men's javelin throw final, felt that his injury had a role in his performance.
"Everyone has their day. Today was Pakistan's day. But we have won silver, and it is a proud thing for us. I think his groin injury had a part in his performance," Neeraj's father Satish Chopra told ANI.
"He has won silver for the country. We are happy and proud. All the youth will be inspired by him," he added.
