Focussed on Olympics, javelin ace Neeraj Chopra shuns mobile

By Navneet SinghNew Delhi, March 7 : To stay away from distraction, Olympic Games-bound star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra wouldnt interact with people on his cell phone, said his uncle on Sunday.

"With less than 140 days to go for the Tokyo Olympics, we believe it is good to stay focused.

Even we dont disturb him too much these days," Bhim Chopra, an uncle of the athlete, told IANS.Last week, Chopra, 23, improved his national record to 88.07 metres during the third leg of Indian Grand Prix held in Patiala, hinting that his training is going on the expected lines.The Haryana athletes previous competition, prior to the Indian GP, was in January last year during a local meet in South African city of Potchefstroom, where he had hurled the javelin to a distance of 87.86 metres.The effort was better than the Tokyo Olympic qualification mark of 85m.Shivpal Singh is the other javelin thrower to have qualified for the Olympics.Chopra might not take calls until the Olympics, but he is often active on his twitter handle.

Last month, he had posted a video of his training drills at Bhubaneswars Kalinga Stadium."His public relation team is managing his account," said a national level coach.

After his record-breaking performance on March 5, Chopra in an online media interaction revealed his plans.One of them was to break the 90-metre barrier.

He would be seen in action during the National Federation Cup Athletics Championships, starting from March 15 in Patiala.Recently, Asian Games champion wrestler Bajrang Punia too had announced that he would keep away from social media platforms as he is focusing on the Tokyo Olympics, starting on July 23.