Neeraj Chopra joins triple Olympic champion Jan Zelezny in training group

Neeraj Chopra has joined hands with the legendary Jan Zelezny from the Czech Republic as his new coach. He also joined Zelezny and other athletes in a training group, the Czech Athletics Federation (CAS) confirmed on Friday, November 8.

Zelezny won the gold medal thrice in the Olympics, including Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, and Sydney 2000. He also bagged the silver medal in Seoul 1988. The javelin thrower also won three gold medals and a bronze at the World Championships.

Zelezny was over the moon after Chopra joined the training group. The now 58-year-old said that he was looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the Indian star in the camp in South Africa.

“That made me happy because I had already talked about him as a great talent many years ago, at the beginning of his career,” Zelezny was quoted as saying on the CAS website. “I am starting cooperation with Chopra. We are getting to know each other at a distance, we will start in person only at the traditional winter camp in South Africa."

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Neeraj Chopra grows in stature for India

Neeraj Chopra has not looked back since winning the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. Recently, he won his second Olympic medal after bagging silver in Paris with the best throw of 89.45 metres. Chopra could not finish on top of the podium after Arshad Nadeem pulled off a massive throw of 92.97 metres.

With back-to-back medals in the Olympics, Neeraj will now be aiming to go past the 90-metre mark. Earlier in September, Neeraj missed out agonizingly on winning the Diamond League in Brussels, falling only a centimetre short.

With a throw of 87.86 metres, Neeraj fell short of Andersen Peters’ effort of 87.87 metres. Last year, he also won the gold medal at the World Championships in Budapest with a best throw of 88.77 metres.

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