Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra aims for gold medals in all major upcoming events of 2022

2021 Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has his eyes set and plans laid out for the action-packed 2022 season. The 24-year-old will be seen in action at major events this year, including the World Championship, Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

Neeraj, who won a historic gold medal after clearing a distance of 87.58m in Tokyo, is now aiming to shatter the 90m mark this year. He is also looking forward to winning gold medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Asian Games and Diamond League Finals.

Neeraj told the Laureus official website:

"The gold medal has motivated me in life to do even better. Performing well and ending up on the podium will be my target in the World Championship which is going to take place in July. Besides that, there are other big tournaments lined up this year such as Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Diamond League Final. All of these are really major tournaments."

The Birmingham CWG is scheduled to take place from July 28 to August 8 while the Asian Games will be held from September 10-25 this year.

Neeraj is currently undergoing rigorous training at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Centre in the USA. His 90-day training camp, which was supposed to end on March 4, has now been extended till the World Championships, slated to take place in July.

Shedding light on how he has been gearing up, Neeraj said:

"While training, it always comes to mind that I have to win medals in all these major tournaments. I have won a gold medal in Commonwealth and Asian Games and I would like to repeat my performance there. I represented India in the World Championship held in London. I couldn't get into the finals there, but I'll try my best to finish the tournament on the podium this year."

Neeraj Chopra speaks on his 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards nomination:

Neeraj Chopra, after his dream Olympic debut, earned a nomination for the 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards in the 'World Breakthrough of the Year' category. Neeraj is now the third Indian to be nominated for a prestigious Laureus award.

If he wins the award, Neeraj will become only the second Indian athlete after cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar to win the Laureus honor.

Speaking about the same, Neeraj said:

"It feels incredible to be nominated for such an award. Even before I won the Olympic gold medal, I've always seen sporting legends across the globe being part of these awards. I always wanted to be one of them. Now, when my name is there on the list, I feel really special. If I win, I would like to place this Award on the top of my list since it's an international award. It's very special and I also hope that in future a lot of Indians will be nominated and will win it for India, as legend Sachin has."