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Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has Chandigarh connect
Neeraj honed his javelin throwing skills at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula and studied at DAV College in Chandigarh
Thirteen years ago, a palatial house in Zirakpur on Chandigarh’s periphery was thronged by media persons and fans when shooter Abhinav Bindra bagged a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.
On Saturday evening, a few kilometers away from Bindra’s house, fans and media persons swarmed the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula to watch Neeraj Chopra claim India’s second individual gold medal, this time in javelin throw at the Tokyo Olympics.
Neeraj, a native of Khandra village in Haryana’s Panipat district, had come to this Panchkula stadium a decade ago to learn the nuances of javelin throw from his first coach Naseem Ahmad.
Ecstatic scenes were witnessed at the stadium where the men’s javelin throw event was being live streamed on a big screen, and coach Naseem was hooked to it along with around 1,000 fans. As soon as Neeraj’s claim to the gold medal was confirmed, an emotional Naseem said: “My boy did India proud, finally winning the first medal for track and field events for India in the Olympics. I knew Neeraj would do it. He was confident ahead of the final.”
Naseem, who had trained Neeraj from 2011 to 2015 before he got into the Indian camp and also joined the Indian Army, said: “I remember him as a sharp kid. Coming from rural Haryana, he had the hunger to do well and become a top-notch athlete. Three-four young javelin throwers had come from Panipat with him to excel in the sport as there was no javelin equipment in Panipat academies. He had previously won two to three tournaments at the district and state level.”
The 58-year-old coach, who is posted at the stadium that is run by the Haryana sports department, also praised Neeraj for dedicating his gold medal to the legendary sprinter Milkha Singh, who died recently, and other Indian athletes like PT Usha.
Neeraj has another connect with Chandigarh. In 2015, he had enrolled at DAV College, Sector 10, an institution that has produced Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh (cricket), Anjum Moudgil (shooting), Sukhbir Singh Gill (hockey) and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (football) among other Indian sportspersons
Neeraj had taken admission in BA and in just one year broke the meet record in the all-India inter-varsity competition.
“It was so inspiring to have Neeraj at our college. Other athletes learned so much from him. I spoke to him the day before the final and told him to not be nervous and just be fearless. And he was focused and not at all nervous,” said Ravinder Choudhary, associate professor, physical education department, DAV College, and also secretary of the Athletics Federation of India. College students and the staff celebrated Neeraj’s feat, with Anjum Moudgil joining them too.
Neeraj made his international debut in 2016, when he won the World U20 Championship in Poland, with a world junior record throw of 86.48 metres. He won gold in the 2016 South Asian Games with a throw of 82.23 metres. At Tokyo, his 87.58-metre throw got India the gold.
“This gold will change the Indian athletics for good,” said Naseem.
