Nagpur, Aug 7
Neeraj Chopra (Chopde) who became the first Indian to win the gold medal for Indian in the athletics at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday originally hails from Maharashtra. As soon as the news spread of his feat in the men's javelin throw finals, the congratulatory messages started pouring in, hailing Neeraj Chopra as the world conqueror.
Though Neeraj Chopra is a resident of Khandra village near Panipat, his ancestral roots are in Maharashtra. People of all castes and communities who survived the Third Panipat War of 1764 are known as Road Marathas in Haryana. Sonepat, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Jind are the six districts where Rane, Bhosale, Chopde, Mule, Mahale etc. live. Agriculture, dairy are the main occupations. Neeraj's family is also into agriculture. Since setting a new record in the World Junior Championships in 2015, he has been proudly mentioning the road Maratha community and family farming business in every interview.
Road Maratha community has been organized under the name of Akhil Bharatiya Maratha Jagruti Manch for the last fifteen years. With the assistance of Maratha Seva Sangh, Sambhaji Brigade and Jijau Brigade led by Purushottam Khedekar, big events are held in Delhi and Panipat. While talking to Lokmat Times, its chief office-bearer Kamaljit Mahale expressed joy at Neeraj's historic success.
“I am happy that Neeraj won India's first gold medal in athletics, scripting a new history. Moreover, Surinder Kumar is also a Road Maratha youth in the team that restored the golden days of Indian hockey. That makes the success sweetel,” Kamaljit Mahale said that the Maratha community is very proud of the six Arjuna Award winners.