Neeraj Chopra during the Diamond League 2024 Final on Saturday. (REUTERS)
Double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra is set to travel to Potchefstroom, South Africa later in November for training in order to begin preparations for next year’s events, the Sports Ministry which will be funding the 31-day stay, revealed on Friday.
“(He) will start his training early and will be in Potchefstroom for a period of 31 days. Neeraj’s training session will be funded by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and the expenditure will cover his and his Physiotherapist’s lodging, boarding and training cost for the period of his stay in South Africa,” the ministry said in a release.
The 26-year-old javelin star who last competed in the diamond League in September is quite familiar with Potchefstroom, having trained there before the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. He also took part in the ACNW League Meeting 1 event there in 2020 and finished on top with a 87.86m throw.
On November 6, in an emotional parting message, Neeraj also confirmed he is parting ways with his long-time coach Klaus Bartonietz, who is set to retire and return home to Germany.
The partnership was hugely successful, leading to two Olympics medals — including gold at Tokyo 2020 — as well as two Asian Games golds, and a World Championship gold.
The 75-year-old had first been hired by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) in 2019 as a biomechanical expert, and he later became Neeraj’s coach after a fallout between his previous coach, Uwe Hohn, and the AFI.
Bartonietz’s last competition with Neeraj was at the Diamond League final in Brussels earlier this year, in which the Indian javelin thrower finished second.
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