'Neeraj Chopra very disciplined and dedicated, will throw 93m in one or two years'

NEW DELHI: Legendary para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia believes that it is only a matter of time before Neeraj Chopra breaches the 90m mark, predicting that the star javelin thrower could reach a distance of 93m within the next one to two years.

Neeraj recently won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics with a throw of 89.45m, while Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem set an Olympic record with a throw of 92.97m to win gold.

On Thursday, Neeraj finished second in the Lausanne Diamond League with a throw of 89.49m, trailing behind Anderson Peters of Grenada, who threw 90.61m.

Jhajharia, a double Paralympics gold medalist in the F46 category, highlighted that once Neeraj breaks through the 90m barrier, he expects the javelin thrower to exceed it by a significant margin, predicting an increase of 3 to 4 meters.

"If I say in the language of javelin throw, 89-plus has become a barrier for Neeraj currently. I have seen in my sporting career of 20 years, when a barrier is broken it does not break by just a mere metre or so, but by 3 to 4 metres," the 43-year-old Jhajharia told PTI.

"When Neeraj does that, he will not throw just 90-plus, his javelin will go 3-4 metres farther. Please remember my words.

"So, Neeraj will throw 92m to 93m when the barrier is broken. He should do it in one or two years," said Jhajharia, who was elected as Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) president in March.

Additionally, Jhajharia, who also won a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, noted that Neeraj's peak form is yet to come and anticipated it within the next two years.

"Age is in his favour, 26 is no age and I am hoping that he will be at his peak when he is 28 or 29. By then, he will do his best.

"He is very disciplined and very dedicated. I have seen that when we trained together in 2022 in Finland," he said.

Neeraj will turn 27 in December this year.