Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra is set to switch his training base from Turkey and will fly out to Finland for the same on Thursday. Neeraj, who is currently training at Turkey's Gloria Sports Arena, is scheduled to fly out on May 26 and would train in Finland's Kuortane Olympic Training Centre till June 22. The Kuortane OTC offers Olympic-level indoor and outdoor facilities for athletes and is currently also the training base for Paralympics gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia. From Kuortane, Neeraj will then head out to Turku to participate in the Paavo Nurmi Games, followed by Kuortane Games and then Diamond League in Stockholm.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has also reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to ensure that Neeraj and his team do not face any issues during their stay in Finland and the MEA in their response has also assured SAI that the Indian Embassy in Helsinki would be available for any assistance if required. The four-week (28 days) training camp has been sanctioned by the government's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and would cost the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) Rs. 9.8 lakhs approximately. The finance would be used towards expenditure for Neeraj and his coach Klaus Bartonietz's travel, accommodation, training, local travel, and daily out-of-pocket allowance among other expenditures.