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New Delhi: His 90m throw at the Doha Diamond League in May might have lifted a weight of his shoulders, but javelin star Neeraj Chopra is aware that he needs to improve his technique to achieve the mark consistently.
The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist threw 90.23m to breach the 90m mark he coveted for so long, while finish second on May 16 in his season-opening event.
The 27-year-old accepts that his technique is far from perfect for which he is leaning on his coach Jan Zelezny, the man who 90m-plus throws more than anybody in javelin history.
"I feel I am really fast in run-up, but I don't think I am using the speed (to send javelin farther) right now. In Doha, the 90m throw was really good, but technically I don't want to say that was perfect," Chopra said, a day before his participation at the Diamond League Finals in Zurich.
"If my left leg is straight and if I use perfect block, that will be really good throw and then I will be satisfied with my speed."
Chopra came under the tutelage of world record holder Zelezny in February and since then has finished second in Doha, won the Paris leg of the Diamond League on June 20 and claimed the NC Classic in Bengaluru on July 5.
"I learned from him (Zelezny) how to stay calm under pressure and still be consistent. He threw 90m-plus more than 50 times. He was really in another level," Chopra, the Paris Olympics silver medallist said.
"He always said, I read somewhere, the technique is my (Zelezny's) biggest weapon. Technically, I'm not at his level. So I'm trying to improve my technique.
"But more than an athlete or coach, he is a really good man and he's always helping me. I tried to learn so many things about him."
At Zurich, Chopra will face defending champion Grenada's Anderson Peters and Julian Weber of Germany in a seven-man field, which includes 2015 world champion Julius Yego, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, Moldova's Andrian Mardare and Simon Wieland of Switzerland.
Despite breaching the 90m mark for the first time, Chopra was second behind Weber at Doha while in Paris he won with a throw of 88.16m and in Bengaluru he achieved a best throw of 86.18m.
