Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is becoming a symbol of Indian athletic history by qualifying for the 2024 Olympics.
The biggest shortcoming was that Indian sportsmen and women had not competed in Olympic Games and World Athletics in a big way. It was Neeraj Chopra who solved that great grievance of sports lovers. In the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Neeraj Chopra won gold and made the motherland proud.
Born in a poor farming family in Panipat, Haryana, Neeraj studied at PVN School there and graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Chandigarh. Interested in javelin at a young age, Neeraj honed himself and shone in the South Asian Games. Through this he got the post of Subedar in the Indian Army.
He had no time to look back after that. He continued to accumulate victories. Silver in the Asian Junior Championship in 2016, gold in the World Junior Championship, gold in the South Asian Games, gold in the Asian Championship in 2017, gold in the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018, and gold in the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018.
Neeraj won gold in the 2021 Olympic Games held in Tokyo. Out of the 7 medals won by India in these Olympics, only one gold was won by Neeraj Chopra. Only 2 individuals have won gold for India in the Olympics. Abhinav Bindra (Pistle Shooting) in 2008 and Neeraj Chopra (Javelin) in 2021 have achieved this feat.
He also topped the Diamond League Athletics Championship series held in 2022. Following this, he won silver at the World Athletics Championships held in Eugene.
With this, Neeraj has transformed into an indispensable player of Indian athletics.
Currently participating in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, he has qualified for the 2024 Olympics by throwing the javelin at a distance of 88.77.
Neeraj is the number one javelin thrower in the world. He achieved this amazing feat on May 11. He has set a record by throwing the javelin at a maximum distance of 89.94 meters. This is a national achievement.
Sports experts predict that he will throw the javelin further than this in the World Championships and next year’s Olympic Games.
High morale, relentless training, insatiable thirst to achieve in the game and encouraging coaches are the plus points for his success.
Although he won gold at the last Olympic Games, he has never won gold at the World Athletics Championships. Fans are waiting for him to overcome that shortcoming in the current Budapest tournament.
Apart from that, fans and sports enthusiasts expect that he will create a record in next year’s Olympics in Paris.
High morale, relentless training, insatiable thirst to achieve in the game and encouraging coaches are the plus points for his success.
