“I am doing your hard work for you”: Neeraj Chopra vows to honor injured Murali Sreeshankar’s Paris Olympics 2024 dreams
After a nightmare injury ended Murali Sreeshankar’s dreams of going to the Paris Olympics 2024, fellow Olympians Neeraj Chopra, Tejaswin Shankar, and others came forward to lend their support during the tough period.
In an interview with ESPN, the 25-year-old long jumper spoke about the training injury that ended his Olympic dreams. Murali injured his knee during a training session in Kerala before the Diamond League event in Suzhou in April 2024.
Several Olympians, including gold medalist Neeraj Chopra and decathlete Tejaswin Shankar, reached out to Murali at the lowest point of his career due to the severe injury that required surgery.
“There was a gap of a week between my injury and my surgery, and everyone called me, from Neeraj [Chopra] bhaiya to Tejaswin Shankar, Jeswin Aldrin, Praveen Chithravel, Eldhose Paul, Abdullah Aboobacker and Karthik. They all said, ‘This is just another phase in your life, you'll get back strong.’ I was getting so much love, encouragement and motivation from everyone,” Murali said in the interview with ESPN.
“I spoke to Neeraj bhaiya just before going for the surgery and he said ‘Bro, just be confident, don't stress, I am doing your hard work for you also here.’ Tejaswin was like if there is anyone who can come out of this, it is you,” Murali added.
The mental support provided by Neeraj and Tejaswin was of utmost importance to Murali Sreeshankar on his road to recovery from the injury.
“That was that moment I just picked myself up, within two days of the injury. I made that mental switch and from there, there was no turning back,” Murali said.
Murali Sreeshankar shares his target after Paris Olympics 2024 heartbreak
The strong mental strength of Murali Sreeshankar has helped him get back on the road to recovery much faster than expected, and he is already thinking ahead about his future after missing out on the plane to France. He said:
“I'm back to my shape in half the time expected – they said that I'll be back to my daily activities in three months, I was back in one and a half months.
“The way everything is progressing, I'm 100% sure that by next year I'll be in great shape. They have repaired my knee in such a good way that it's stronger than before also. My realistic target is next year's World Championships.”
“I don't feel any fear or anything. I just want to get back to jumping as soon as possible,” Murali Sreeshankar added.