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Today, Indian Army Naib Subedar Neeraj Chopra created history to bag 1st athletics gold in Tokyo Olympics 2021. With this, he has become a sensation. Neeraj is the lone world record holder athlete javelin thrower and today become a pioneer in Indian athletics. He is currently carrying the dreams of 1.3 billion Indians to win a medal in Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Neeraj Chopra has today become an inspiration for several youngsters to take javelin as a sport.
Interesting Facts About Nb. Subedar Neeraj Chopra
- Neeraj Chopra was born on December 24, 1997
- He hails from Khandra Village of Haryana’s Panipat district
- As a kid, he was grossly overweight, weighing 90 kg at the age of 12.
- Neeraj’s interest in javelin’s throw happened by chance when he saw Jaiveer Choudhary practicing Javelin Throw at the Panipat stadium.
- Neeraj is a graduate of DAV College in Chandigarh, Punjab.
- He joined the Indian Army in 2016 and become a part of Mission Olympics Wing.
Neeraj Chopra Achievements
- Neeraj Chopra made his international debut for India at the 2013 World Youth Championships.
- In his international debut, he finished 19th in the qualification round held at Donetsk in Ukraine.
- At the 2015 Asian Championships, he finished 9th in the final of the javelin throw event in Wuhan, China.
- In 2016, he won a Silver medal in the javelin throw at the Asian Junior Championships.
- Later in 2016, he set the world junior record by throwing 86.48m and clinched the Gold medal at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
- At the 2017 Asian Championships, he won the Gold medal by throwing 85.23m at Bhubaneshwar in Odisha.
- In the same year, he competed at the World Athletics Championships in London but failed to win any medals as he finished 15th in the qualification round.
- In 2018, Neeraj clinched the Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games held at Gold Coast in Australia and thus became the first Indian javelin thrower to accomplish the feat at the Commonwealth Games.
- At the 2018 Asian Games, he broke his own national record of 86.48m by throwing 88.06m and won the Gold medal in the javelin throw in Jakarta, Indonesia.
- In January 2020, Neeraj Chopra booked his Olympics berth in Javelin Throw at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after throwing 87.86m at the Athletics Central North East held in Potchefstroom South Africa.
- This will be his debut Olympics after he missed out on the chance of representing India at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
- Neeraj Chopra trains with Uwe Hohn, one of the world’s most renowned coaches.
- Neeraj Chopra won the country’s seventh medal and first gold in this Olympics and joined shooter Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Games) as India’s individual gold winners in the showpiece.
THE THROW THAT WON #IND A #GOLD MEDAL 😍#Tokyo2020 | #StrongerTogether | #UnitedByEmotion @Neeraj_chopra1 pic.twitter.com/F6xr6yFe8J
— #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 7, 2021