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Haryana’s tableau to showcase its golden boy Neeraj Chopra, other champions
The tableau will also feature sporting disciplines in which athletes from Haryana are particularly proficient -- boxing, weightlifting, shooting, hockey, among others
Chandigarh: Haryana will celebrate its champion athletes when its tableau rolls past Rajpath this Republic Day, and a life-size image of India’s only track & field gold medallist, Neeraj Chopra, will be showcased as one of the centrepieces of the state’s sporting revolution.
Chopra, the javelin thrower who won a historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics last year, is at the Chula Vista Training Center in San Diago, US for training. .
Officials aware of the details of the state’s R-Day offering said that Chopra’s life replica will be the on the rear of the tableau, where the athlete will be seen in a famous posture -- hurling the javelin.
Ten eminent elite athletes -- Olympic medal-winning wrestlers Bajrang Punia (bronze, 2020 Tokyo) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze, 2012 London); para athletes Sumit Antil ( gold, 2020 Tokyo) and Yogesh Kathuniya (silver, 2020 Tokyo), para archer Harvinder ( bronze, 2020 Tokyo), national women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal, former national women’s hockey captain Mamta Kharb, wrestler Deepak Punia (fourth, 2020 Tokyo), and para athletes Rampal and Ranjeet, who participated in 2020 Tokyo Games, will be on the tableau deck during the parade.
Two wrestlers, Ashu (bronze medallist at the 2020 Asian Championships in 67kg Greco Roman) and Anil (who won gold in the 96kg Greco Roman at the 2010 CWG in New Delhi), will demonstrate a live wrestling bout on the deck aboard the tableau as it goes past the main stage.
The tableau will also feature sporting disciplines in which athletes from Haryana are particularly proficient -- boxing, weightlifting, shooting, hockey, among others.
Amit Agrawal, additional principal secretary to the chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, said since one distinct achievement of the state is highlighted on Republic Day, it was decided to highlight Haryana’s sporting glory on the back of India’s most successful Olympic Games. The national contingent returned with one gold, two silvers, and four bronze from Tokyo 2020 and five golds, eight silvers, and six bronze medals from the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
“The tableau has to feature something special and unique, and so we decided to go with sport,” Agrawal said, adding that it was a matter of honour that sportspersons from Haryana, which has only 1.3% of the geographical area and 2.09% of the population of the country, have brought laurels for the country in several international competitions.
Of the seven medals won by India at Tokyo Olympics, sportspersons from Haryana won four. Even before Tokyo, Haryana has been n the forefront of India’s sporting revolution. Four out of six Indians who won medals at 2012 London Olympics were from Haryana. The state also gave India two medallists at Beijing 2008 and one in Rio 2016.
