Olympics 2024: Neeraj Chopra Vows to Return Stronger after losing Gold to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem

India javelin throw star Neeraj Chopra opened up about his injury woes after clinching a silver medal in the Olympics, revealing that he might have to undergo a surgery soon after having pushed himself extremely hard to compete here while battling a constant fear of breaking down.

Chopra was dealing with a nagging adductor niggle (a problem related to muscles in the thigh) in the run up to the Paris Games. But he managed a season's best effort of 89.45m to secure a silver medal, making him the first track-and-field athlete from India to have two Olympic medals, the first being an unprecedented gold in Tokyo.

Chopra finished behind Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who stole the show with an Olympic record-shattering throw of 92.97m to become the first individual Olympic gold-medallist from his country.

"I have a lot on my mind. When I am throwing, 60-70 per cent focus of my is on the injury. I don't want to get injured. Whenever I go for a throw, you will see that my speed is low. I am pushing myself," he said.

"The doctor told me to go for surgery but I didn't have that much time to take that decision before the world championship or after the world championship because it takes a lot of time to prepare for the Olympics," he added, referring to the 2023 world championship where he won gold.

The 26-year-old, despite not being at his best here, became only the third Indian to win back-to-back Olympic medals after PV Sindhu and Sushil Kumar.

"I am still pushing myself," he said with a hint of frustration.

"It's not good in sport, it's not good to push and continue. If you want to run a long career then you have to be fit and healthy but there are competitions where you can't make a decision. Now we will work on this and work on the technique," he added.

Chopra said he will talk to his team and then "take a decision".