Winning an Olympics medal is certainly a great achievement for a sportsperson and Neeraj Chopra, the Indian track and field athlete, scripted history when he won the Gold medal in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics.
It was the first time that India won a Gold medal in the track and field event in the history of Olympics and after his return from Tokyo, Neeraj Chopra was seen giving interviews, attending felicitation ceremonies, etc. as the government and organizations wanted to celebrate his achievement. However, these functions and interviews had a pretty bad effect on his health as well as his training.
While speaking to a leading daily, Neeraj Chopra revealed that not only his training got stopped due to these functions but his health also got affected and he fell ill. He stated that he used to sweat profusely during these functions and then he had to sit in air-conditioned cars because of which he caught fever and he was also not able to take proper rest and food due to the busy schedule. The athlete further says that such things should not take place as sports need continuous attention, adding that it is wrong to give athletes and winners all the attention for one month and then sit completely silent.
He also disclosed that he had to skip the Diamond League which is at the end of the month because his training came to a halt and he is not in good health as well. Neeraj who seems to be pretty annoyed with the situation cites that there is no doubt attention is important but it doesn’t mean that the training of the athlete can take a back stage. He also states that these things should change in the Indian sports as we can’t get satisfied with just one gold medal and we need to think big. At one fell swoop, he didn’t fail to mention that all other Olympic champions will be taking part in the Diamond League because their schedule was not affected after returning to their country.
Undoubtedly, Neeraj Chopra sounds absolutely correct and such things need to change in the Indian sports. What is your take in regard to his statement? Share with us.