"Whatever I've Done And Achieved So Far Is Not The Best": Neeraj Chopra

Olympic gold is the ultimate glory for an athlete but star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra says his best is yet to come as he strives to breach the 90m mark in the upcoming top events this year. The 24-year-old Chopra won the men's javelin throw event in Tokyo Games last year with an effort of 87.58m to win India's first Olympic gold in athletics. He also became only the second Indian after shooter Abhinav Bindra to win an Olympic individual gold medal.

He said touching the 90m mark will be one of his targets this year with a medal in the upcoming World Championships and defending his titles in the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games being the other aims. "I always think whatever I've done and achieved so far is not 'the-best'. I think that I can really do better in future. It feels good that whole nation believes in me and have really high hopes for me," he told the Laureus World Sports website.

"We have been trying to reach the 90m mark for a very long time now. I think I can really do it sometime soon in near future. There's no pressure on me to get past 90m, but I will work on my technique along with my strength and speed and would like to achieve it this year," said Chopra, who has a personal best of 88.03m.

Chopra earned a nomination for the prestigious 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards in the World Breakthrough of the Year category.

"The gold medal (in Tokyo) has motivated me in life to do even better. Performing well and ending up on podium will be my target in the World Championship (in July)," he said.

"There are other big tournaments lined up this year such as Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Diamond League Final. All of these are really major tournaments. I have to win medals in all these major