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WHO IS NEERAJ CHOPRA?

Neeraj Chopra

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who made history on August 7, 2021 by winning India's first-ever gold medal in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics, was born on December 24, 1997 to a family of farmers from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana. He graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh.

His mother Saroj Devi is a housewife and father Satish Kumar is a farmer. Since he was overweight, Chopra was always persuaded by his family to take up sports. Later, he decided to try his luck at javelin throw and started training at the Shivaji Stadium in Panipat.

After training for a year, the 23-year-old was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula where his coach Naseem Ahmad made him train in the long-distance running along with the javelin throw.

Neeraj Chopra's achievements

By the end of 2012, Neeraj Chopra became the U-16 national champion. In 2014, he won the first-ever international medal (silver) in the Youth Olympics Qualification in Bangkok. In 2015, he received his first medal in a national senior championship during the Inter-State event in Chennai with a throw of 77.33 metres.

A few months later, he won gold in the National Open Championships in Kolkata. The year 2016 was a breakthrough for Neeraj Chopra as he bagged a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Guwahati with a throw of 82.23m.

He further improved his skills under the guidance of Uwe Hohn, Gary Calvert, and Werner Daniels.

Impressed with his performance at several national and international tournaments, the Indian Army decided to make him a Junior Commission Officer in 2017. He was offered a direct appointment as a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Rajputana Rifles with the rank of 'Naib Subedar'.

After joining the Army, Chopra got selected for training at the 'Mission Olympics Wing' as well as at the Army Sports Institute in Pune. The Mission Olympics Wing is an initiative by the Indian Army to identify and train promising sportspersons in 11 disciplines for various national and international competitions.

In 2018, he won the gold medal in Commonwealth Games with a season-best effort of 86.47 metres and threw his personal best of 87.43m at the Diamond League in Doha in the same year. On August 27, Neeraj clinched gold at the Asian Games with a throw of 88.06 metres. The athlete was out of action for eight months in 2019 due to an elbow injury.

Tokyo Olympics 2021

On August 7, 2021, Neeraj Chopra emerged as India's first track-and-field Olympic gold-medallist. He gave his best throw of 87.58m in his second attempt to clinch the gold medal for India at Tokyo Olympic Games. He is now the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win a gold medal in individual events.

He was qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.86m at the ACNE League. He breached the Olympic qualification mark of 85m in his fourth attempt and secured the top place at the international event.

He threw the spear to 81.76m in the beginning and improved after every throw. He could manage a throw of 82m in his second attempt and 82.57 in the third.

Awards won by neeraj chopra

In 2018, Neeraj Chopra was conferred with the Arjuna Award and Vishist Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020 for his excellence in sports.

LATEST UPDATES ON NEERAJ CHOPRA

Hope to breach 90-metre mark in javelin this year: Neeraj Chopra
His athleticism has left even the iconic Michael Johnson in awe recently and India's Neeraj Chopra has now set himself a target ...| January 07, 2023, Saturday
Indian Sports in 2022: Hockey good, badminton better, Neeraj best
The Thomas Cup triumph made for an epic success story while Neeraj Chopra further enhanced his superstar status with a rare ...| December 31, 2022, Saturday
From Commonwealth Games to Fifa WC, 2022 was a year of reset for sports
2022 was about one sporting great finally realising his dream and another bowing out after having done it all| December 30, 2022, Friday
Neeraj Chopra replaces Bolt as world's most visible track and field athlete
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra has dislodged the iconic Usain Bolt as the "most visible" athlete in the world after winning a ...| December 16, 2022, Friday
Sports min approves foreign training camps for Neeraj, 3 other athletes
The sports ministry has approved Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra's proposal to train at Loughborough University in the ...| November 19, 2022, Saturday
Neeraj Chopra to skip National Games, prepare for mega events next season
Neeraj Chopra will not participate in the upcoming 36th National Games in Gujarat as he wants to rest and recover from the ...| September 09, 2022, Friday
Neeraj Chopra scripts another history, becomes Diamond League champion
It was Chopra's third appearance in the Diamond League Finals. He had finished seventh and fourth respectively in 2017 and 2018| September 09, 2022, Friday
Games beyond cricket: How to plan and build a career in rising sports
Indian athletes medal-winning streak is prompting young people to train for competitive events| September 02, 2022, Friday
National Sports Day: Quotes, significance and top 20 Indian sports players
National Sports Day is celebrated globally to honour the sportspersons, traditional sports, sportsmanship and national sports ...| August 29, 2022, Monday
Had felt my season was over after groin injury: Neeraj on missing CWG 2022
Neeraj has now qualified for the Diamond League final on September 7-8 in Zurich, Switzerland, as well as the 2023 World ...| August 27, 2022, Saturday