Sonia Gandhi congratulates Neeraj Chopra, says his Olympic gold medal will motivate country's sportspersons to excel

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday congratulated javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra for winning the gold medal in Tokyo Olympics and said it will certainly motivate the country's sportspersons to excel further.

In a statement, she said Neeraj Chopra has made every Indian proud with his single-minded devotion and grit.

"I join the nation in congratulating the Golden Boy, Neeraj Chopra for winning the first-ever Olympic gold medal for India in track and field. I also extend special congratulations to his coach, family members and well-wishers," she said.

"Olympic Gold is the biggest achievement in the field of sports and Neeraj has made every Indian proud with his single-minded devotion, grit and herculean efforts. I am certain that the Gold medal win will certainly motivate all our sportspersons to excel further," she added.

Neeraj Chopra created history on Saturday and threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m to pick the gold at the Olympics.

Neeraj began his quest for a medal with a massive throw of 87.03 meters and was leading the pack after the end of the first attempt. He bettered it with the second throw of 87.58m. While he wasn't able to improve any further, it was enough to get him the coveted medal. He is now the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win a gold medal in individual events.

India has now won seven medals in the multi-sporting event, its best-ever performance at the Olympics. Bajrang Punia (Bronze), Mirabai Chanu (silver), PV Sindhu (bronze), Lovlina Borgohain (bronze), men's hockey team ( bronze), and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver) have also won medals.

( With inputs from ANI )

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