Neeraj Chopra of India
As Neeraj Chopra creates history by winning India’s first Olympic gold medal in athletics, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh And the armed forces on Saturday lauded the Army jawan, saying he made the country proud by performing like a “true soldier”.
Chopra is a Subedar with the 4 Rajputana Rifles in the Indian Army and hails from Panipat, Haryana. The Defense Minister said that Subedar Chopra’s “gold victory” in the Tokyo Olympics is a historic and proud moment for the entire nation, including the Indian Armed Forces.
“Subedar Neeraj Chopra’s golden victory in Olympics brings respect to the Indian Army. He performed like a true soldier in Olympics. It is indeed a historic and proud moment for the entire nation including the Indian Armed Forces. He deserves a lot- Many congratulations.” Singh tweeted.
Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane congratulated Subedar Neeraj Chopra for winning the country’s first gold medal in javelin throw at the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.58m. “The whole army was proud of his achievement,” he said.
Army tweeted, “Gen MM Naravane #COAS & all ranks of #IndianArmy congratulate Subedar Neeraj Chopra for winning the country’s first #Gold Medal in #Javelin at the #TokyoOlympics with a throw of 87.58m.”
In a message, Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat said Chopra has made the armed forces and the nation proud like many other Olympians who have created history at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Neeraj Chopra has proved that when there is a will there is a way… We are confident that you will reach greater heights in the years to come. Your achievement will inspire and motivate other players to achieve great success. And a great honor for our country,” General Rawat said.
The Indian Air Force also congratulated Subedar Chopra for his “unprecedented achievement”.
Several former army generals also took to Twitter to congratulate Chopra. Former Army Chief General (Retd) VP Malik said, “Neeraj Chopra ki Jai Ho! Jai Ho to the Indian Army for being able to win the Olympic gold. Jai Hind.”
Chopra, 23, became the country’s first track-and-field Olympic medalist with his gold, India’s first since shooter Abhinav Bindra’s victory at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Chopra was born on 24 December 1997 in a small village Khandar in Panipat in a farming family. His father Satish Kumar is a farmer and his mother Saroj Devi is a homemaker. An army officer said that he grew up with his two sisters.
Indian Army personnel of Rajputana Rifles also celebrated Chopra’s gold.
He said that Neeraj started javelin throwing to lose weight as he was quite healthy and soon took to the sport. “The rest is now history. He rose to prominence with his performance at the World Under-20 Championships, Poland, where he set a new junior world record with a throw of 86.48m,” said the official.
The official said that he won the Asian Championship 2017 in Bhubaneswar with a throw of 85.23m. The official said Chopra started training under German great Uwe Hahn and won gold at the Commonwealth Games 2018 with a throw of 86.47m and his personal best of 87.43m at the Doha leg of the Diamond League in 2018.
(with PTI inputs)
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