Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who was the only Indian athlete to win a gold at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, has said that he is now eyeing a podium finish at the World Athletics Championship next year. The World Athletics Championship will be held in the USA from July 15-24, 2022. The event was slated to be held in Eugene, Oregon this year, but was pushed to 2022 after the Olympics got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra scripted history on Saturday in Tokyo when he clinched India’s elusive Olympic medal in athletics to become only the second Indian to win the yellow metal in an individual event with a best throw of 87.58m in the final.

Chopra has already won laurels at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. He said that his next target is a gold medal at the World Athletics Championship.

“World Championships is big a competition and sometimes tougher than the Olympics. I am not going to be content with this Olympic gold and sit on this laurel. I would like to do even better and win gold again in Asian Games, CWG and again in Olympics,” Chopra said during a press conference arranged by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to felicitate him on his Olympic gold-winning feat.

The 23-year-old also said that his inclusion in the national camp in 2015 was a turning point in his career. The AFI had included him in the national camp even though he finished fifth at the National Games that year.

Before joining national camp in early 2015, he was training at Tau Devi Lal Stadium at Panchkula after being shifted from Shivaji Stadium at Panipat.

“We did good training but the facilities, equipment, diet were not that good (at Panchkula) but once I joined the national camp (at NIS Patiala) everything changed.

“And the most important thing is the feeling that I am training along with the best javelin throwers of this country. That is a different feeling,” Chopra said.