Neeraj Chopra, the golden boy of Indian sports

Neeraj Chopra created history for India at the Tokyo Olympics by winning a gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event, becoming the first Indian to win a gold at the Olympics for an athletics event.

Here’s more on the golden boy of Indian sports.

Rewards and prizes promised to Neeraj Chopra

Its raining rewards for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Gold medalist:

• Haryana has announced a Rs 6 crore cash reward and a government job for Neeraj Chopra for his gold-medal winning javelin throw in Tokyo.
• Punjab has announced a special cash reward of Rs. 2 crore for his gold-medal winning javelin throw in Tokyo.
• Edtech major BYJU’S announced a cash reward of Rs 2 crore for Chopra
• Manipur will award Neeraj Chopra a cash reward of Rs 1 crore
• BCCI announced a cash reward of Rs one crore.
• IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings announced a reward of Rs one crore for Chopra.
• Indigo airlines announced one year of free unlimited travel for Neeraj Chopra.
• Mahindra group will gift their upcoming model XUV 700 to Chopra.

Neeraj Chopra was Coaxed into Javelin

Neeraj was coaxed into javelin by a senior at the Panipat SAI Centre.

“He used to come at the track everyday. One fine day I asked him bhala fekega (will you through the javelin). He nodded. When he threw his first javelin, I looked at my fellow athletes, and the first word that came from my mouth was ‘ye to natural hai’ (He is a natural talent),” said Jaiveer under whom Neeraj started learning basic javelin skills.

How the Army Helped

Neeraj Chopra joined the Indian army directly as a Naib Subedar under the sports quota because of his stellar sports record.

As part of Mission Olympic 2020, Indian Army started grooming potential kids, employed them, and gave best of diet, coach, infrastructure and incentives. Each medal at international events gave these kids promotion.

Neeraj Chopra got his extensive training under German coach Uwe Hohn much before the Tokyo Olympics, which helped him win gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Subedar Neeraj Chopra reached his current rank, after winning many medal at national and international level.

Neeraj Chopra Battles Obesity to Win Gold

Neeraj Chopra had to battle obesity as a child. Reportedly, Neeraj used to weigh more than 80 kgs when he was 13 years old thanks to a diet that consisted of ghee, makkhan, and malai.

Neeraj Chopra Fitness Videos Go Viral

Here are some videos showing Neeraj Chopra’s gruelling fitness videos, that have gone viral after his gold-winning feat at the Tokyo Olympics.