Neeraj Chopra: Age, Education, Achievements and Medals

Neeraj Chopra whose name is on the top in Javelin Throw, born on 24 December, 1997 at Khandra village near Panipat, Haryana, belonfs to farmer family. Neeraj’s father Satish kumar is a farmer in a village in khandra and his mother Saroj Devi is a housewife and Neeraj has two sisters. He is just 11 years old when he get his interest developed in Javelin when h met Jaiveer ( Jai Choudhary) who used to practice Jovelin at Panipat Stadium and was a Javelin athlete who was representing Haryana. Jaiveer impressed by Neeraj’s 40 metres throw without training and became his first coach. Neeraj took a training from Jaiveer for about an year.

Neeraj  Chopra made his international debut in 2013 at the World Youth Championships in Ukraine. He won the silver medal with a throw of 76.79 meters. In 2014, he won the gold medal at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, with a throw of 86.48 meters. This was the first time that an Indian athlete had won a gold medal in the javelin throw at the Youth Olympics.

Here are some of Neeraj Chopra’s achievements and medals

• Olympic gold medalist (2021)
• World champion (2022)
• Asian Games champion (2018)
• Commonwealth Games champion (2018)
• World Youth Championships silver medalist (2013)
• Youth Olympics gold medalist (2014)
• World U20 Championships gold medalist (2016)

Neeraj’s Achievements:

• Neeraj become an under 16 national champion in 2012 by winning Junior Nationals Lucknow by achieving the new record of 68.40 metres throw.
• Neeraj entered in International competition by participating in World Youth Championships held at Ukraine in 2013. He won his first international medal in 2014 Youth Olympics at Bangkok. Soon he achieved the record of 70 metres at senior nationals in 2014, following this he made the world record of 8o metres in junior category og 81.06 metres in 2015.
• After few months, he won gold in National Open Championship in Kolakata.
• In 2016, there was a breakthrough for Neeraj Chopra in South Asian Games in Guwahati, as he was winning gold with throw of 82,23 metres, though falling short for 83 metre Olympic qualifying mark. He further improved his skills under the guidance of Uwe Hohn , Gary Clvert, and Werner Daniels.
• Indian Army got impressed by his several national and international tournaments and decided to make him a Junior Commission Officer in 2017 and he got the direct appoint of Junior Commissioner Officerr in Rjputana Rifles at the ranking of ‘Naib Subedar’.
• After joining the Indian Army as a Naib Subedar, he got selected in ‘Mission Olympic Wing’ which is a initiative by the Inidan Army for the identification and training of sportsperson in 11 disciplines for various national and international competitions.
• Neeraj won gold in Common Wealth Games, 2018 with the throwing record of 86.47 metres and in the same year,he threw his personal best of 87.43 metres at the Diamond League at Doha.
• On August 2018, Neeraj won gold medal in Asian Games with the throw of 88.06 metres.
• In 2019, he got an elbow injury due to which the Javelin Throw was out of his action for eight months.
• In Tokyo Olmypics of 2021, Neeraj become India’s first track and field Olympic gold medallist by giving his best throw of 87.58 metres in his second attempt to win the gold medal for India in Tokyo Olympic Games. He was qualified for Tokyo Olympics with the throw of 87.86 metres at the ACNE league. He breached the Olympic qualification mark of 85 metres in his fourth attempt and secured the top place at the international event.
• Neeraj was the second one after Abhinav Bindra to win the gold for India in individual event.

Awards won by Neeraj Chopra:

• Neeraj Chopra was honoured with Arjuna Award for Athletics in 2018.
• He was again honoured with Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021.
• In 2022, Neeraj was honoured with the Padma Shri Award.