Tokyo Olympics: Farmer's son Neeraj Chopra from Khandra village, Haryana ends India's 100-year wait gold in athletics

By Benson | Published: August 7, 2021 07:30 PM2021-08-07T19:30:00+5:302021-08-07T19:30:00+5:30

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Neeraj Chopra on Saturday became only the second Indian to win an individual gold in the Olympics, out-performing the javelin field to notch up the first track-and-field Games medal for the country.

The 23-year-old farmer’s son from Khandra village near Panipat, Haryana, produced a second round throw of 87.58m in the finals to stun the athletics world and end India’s 100-year wait for a track and field medal in the Olympics.

Chopra won the country’s seventh medal and first gold in this Olympics and joined shooter Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Games) as India’s individual gold winners in the showpiece.

With this, the country surpassed the previous best haul of six medal achieved in the 2012 London Games.

Neeraj Chopra is only the second Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal. On 11 August 2008, Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the men's 10 m air rifle in 2008 Summer Olympics.

He won his first medal in Olympics in Sport Athletes, event - Men's Javelin throw. His throw of 87.86m at his first competition after an elbow injury guaranteed a ticket to Tokyo. He then qualified in the qualification round with a throw of 86.65m and marched to the finals. Neeraj Chopra dominated the javelin throw final with a best throw of 87.58m to win India's first gold in the Olympics.

Neeraj Chopra was born in a hindu ROR family and is from Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana.He was educated at DAV College, Chandigarh. In 2016, he was appointed a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army with the rank of Naib Subeda.

He won a gold medal in 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He also set a world junior record. Despite these performances, he failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics as the cut off date was 11 July.

Neeraj Chopra registered a season best effort of 86.47 meters in men's javelin throw at 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG). With that, Chopra not only joined an elite list of Indian athletes to win a gold medal on their Commonwealth Games debut, but also became the first Indian to triumph in Javelin Throw at CWG.