When Neeraj Chopra pierced the air with his javelin at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium on Saturday, he made sure that India's Olympics history also soared at an all-time high with it.
Neeraj Chopra's 87.58-meter mark which propelled India to its first gold medal in Athletics is now forever etched in the nation's sporting history as it will now be remembered as the number which broke many barriers for the country of 1.3 billion population.
For Neeraj, the grass was not always this green. As, an overweight 12-year-old boy from Haryana's Khandra village, he was always persistently persuaded by his family members to take up sports. Thankfully, he ultimately gave in to all the badgering and began training at the Shivaji Stadium in Panipat.
That was until he saw a few seniors throwing javelins at the stadium and decided to try his luck at javelin throw. Fortunately for him, that sport truly captured his fancy as he began training rigorously to get into better shape.
Soon, he began to turn the heads with his flair and the distances that he started recording. In 2016, the flamboyant Neeraj announced his arrival on the field by shattering the World Junior record with a throw of 86.48m. He then became India's first-ever javelin thrower to win a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Asian Games.
Neeraj didn't stop there, he further sharpened his skills under the guidance of javelin legend Uwe Hohn. Hohn, who was the javelin coach of the Indian team for three years, left the country earlier this year because of differences with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), but before leaving, he ensured Chopra had the necessary skills to be an Olympic champion.
On the road to Tokyo 2020, Neeraj's faced a great obstacle when he got an injury on his throwing arm that needed surgery. But 23-year-old soon recovered with determination as he ensured to write that golden history for the nation.
With that monumental gold, India has now won seven medals in the multi-sporting event, its best-ever performance. Tokyo 2020 saw Bajrang Punia (Bronze), Mirabai Chanu (silver), PV Sindhu (bronze), Lovlina Borgohain (bronze), men's hockey team ( bronze), and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver) winning medals for the country.
( With inputs from ANI )
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