'Golden Boy' Neeraj can sometimes get silver too, he is human after all: Sumariwalla

NEW DELHI: Brushing aside recent concerns around Neeraj Chopra's fitness and form, Athletics Federation of India's selection committee chairman Adille Sumariwalla has said that the "country's greatest athlete" does not deserve to be scrutinised for an occasional silver after consistently delivering gold for the past one decade.

The two-time Olympic medal-winning javelin thrower, who has been troubled by a lower back injury for nearly a year, produced a season's best effort of 86.48m to win silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month. He had collected a gold at the same event in 2018 before being forced to miss the 2022 edition due to injury.

Sumariwalla said Chopra's extraordinary consistency on the global stage since creating the still-standing junior world record of 86.48m in 2016, ought to be celebrated.

"After the injury, for him to come back to this stage and win a silver medal, it's simply fantastic, for Indian athletics. We are confident that he will keep on improving (in the coming days)," Sumariwalla, also a former president of the AFI, told PTI in a telephonic interview.

"It is not that he would win gold all the time, it doesn't happen like that. Silver medals also happen. He is also a human being, and we should leave at that. We should celebrate his silver medals also," he said.

August 7 is designated by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as the National Javelin Day to celebrate Chopra's historic gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The redoubtable thrower sustained a lower back injury two weeks before the World Championships in September last year. He made a comeback in the Doha Diamond League in June this year, where he finished fourth.

He will next compete in the Lausanne Diamond League on August 21 and also in the DL Finals in Brussels on September 4 and 5, for which he is likely to qualify, before the Asian Games in September-October.

His fitness over the past year has been a talking point and there are concerns that Chopra is struggling to return to his best because of the breakdown. Sumariwalla said the 28-year-old Haryana-lad's tenacity should never be doubted.

"Who has given you two Olympic medals, a gold and a silver? Who has given you world championships gold, junior world record and a gold medal? Who has given you Asian Games gold and Commonwealth Games gold and silver, and Asian Championships gold? Whatever medal he has won, we should take it as a bonus," he said.

"So, when he wins a silver medal also, we must leave it at that. We must not write him off. Whatever he has to do, he will do it and he knows it. He is after all the greatest athlete India has produced," said the man, who was the AFI President when Chopra won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal.

AFI more than satisfied with 10 medals from CWG

The Indian track and field athletes returned home with 10 medals -- five silver and five bronze -- in Glasgow, the best haul in a Games outside home, surpassing the eight medals won in 2022.

The best ever haul, however, remains the one achieved in the 2010 Delhi Games with 12 medals, including two gold.

Sumariwalla is not bothered by the lack of gold in Glasgow as he believes it was a "matter of small margins" for some Indian silver winners.

High jumper Sarvesh Kushare cleared the same height as the gold-winner but had to settle for a silver when a countback of unsuccessful attempts was done.

"Two medals in javelin, two in triple jump, nearly two in long jump, we have depth. We are now not dependent on just a few athletes to deliver. We had multiple finalists in many events," he noted.

"Moreover, we could send a limited number (32) of athletes this time (due to scaled-down Games). Otherwise, we could have fielded our athletes in more events and might have won more medals."

There were a couple of disappointments as well with Gurindervir Singh exiting after the first round heats in men's 100m and Animesh Kujur not making the 200m finals. But Sumariwalla said those results were not particularly alarming at this stage.

Instead, he chose to highlight double-medallist Gulveer Singh (5000m bronze and 10000m silver) and long-jump silver-winner Murali Sreeshankar for their show.

"Gulveer's was a standout performance. He trains abroad and he now knows how to handle the Africans and the Americans. Look at Sreeshankar, after such a bad injury and surgery, he has come back.

Contesting WA president's post next year

Sumariwalla has already thrown his hat in the ring for World Athletics presidency to succeed Sebastian Coe. The elections are due in September next year for the 2027-2031 term.

The high-profile polls will be held in Beijing before the World Championships (September 11-19).

"I have had two terms as World Athletics Council member, one term as Vice President. I have all the qualifications, whether educational, experience or in business, having been part of large international corporations. I think I am very well suited for the job and I have put in my nomination," he reiterated.