Neeraj Chopra: early life, Sports Career, Records, and Medals

The first Indian to win Gold in Javelin Throw in Asian Games

Only those who dared to challenge once created the history. Same is done by our very own, 20 years old Neeraj Chopra. He created history by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal in Javelin Throw at the Asian Games 2018 as well as Commonwealth Games 2018.

Born in small Chandra Village of Panipat, Haryana, he had done his education from DAV College, Chandigarh. His father Sathish Kumar is a farmer and mother a homemaker, but that didn’t stop him from achieving what he wanted. He started his career playing cricket. But soon he discovered his love for javelin and got enrolled at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) sports hostel in Panchkula. Inspired by the senior athletes of Javelin, he decided to make his career in this field.

Coming a long way from his small village, he first won the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships held in Poland. He made a junior world record during the event which brought him the popularity and fame among sports fans of India. Then he secured Indian national record in javelin just when he was a teenager at the 2016 South Asian games with the throw of 82.23M, which is an impressive record for a teenager to smash a senior record. In 2016, he cleared the Olympics qualifications but was a bit late in time which made him wait for two more years. He didn’t always have the benefit of training under a coach, especially in the early part of his career. Australian Garry Calvert had coached him before he quit his position with the Indian contingent in 2017. Chopra now trains under Uwe Hohn.

After all the hard work and dedication he bagged a season-best effort of 86.47 meters in men's javelin throw at 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG). At the at the 2018 Asian Games, he threw a distance of 88.06 m to win gold in the Men's javelin throw and set a new Indian national record, beating his own previous record.

In the sporting arena, the stiff competition from fellow athletes or players inspires great individuals to triumph against all odds and Neeraj proved it right.