Neeraj Chopra, whose Olympic campaign ended in a silver on Thursday, has said that he gave his best was it was "Arshad Nadeem's day to win gold."
The athlete, whose season's best performance of 89.45m was not enough to get him the gold, said it was time to assess his performance and focus on future improvements. "We all feel happy whenever we win a medal for the country. It is time to improve the game now. We will sit and discuss and enhance our performance," Chopra told ANI.
He added that the competition was tough and every athlete has their day. "Today was Arshad's day. I gave my best, but some things need to be addressed and worked on." Nadeem won the gold with a throw of 92.97m, a new Olympic record.
Chopra became only the third Indian and the first in track and field to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals.
His family members too shared the happiness of his medal and said they were not disheartened at all that he couldn't defend his gold. "The environment is joyful in the entire nation, We are very happy that we have won silver medal. This is the hard work of that boy and the nation's blessing is with him that he won a medal for the second time," said Chopra's father Satish Kumar.
His mother Saroj Devi added: "He (Neeraj Chopra) has done very well and we will give him a grand welcome upon his return. He loves churma, so, we will make it for him."
PM lauds Chopra
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded Neeraj Chopra as "excellence personified" after he became the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two successive Olympic medals with a silver in men's javelin throw.
In a post on X, the prime minister said, "Neeraj Chopra is excellence personified! Time and again he's shown his brilliance. India is elated that he comes back with yet another Olympic success."
He added, "Congratulations to him on winning the Silver. He will continue to motivate countless upcoming athletes to pursue their dreams and make our nation proud."