It was a historic day for Indian sports as Neeraj Chopra bagged an elusive gold at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Sunday. Following his historic run, Neeraj recieved congratulatory messages from all quarters. But, it was his heartwarming gesture towards an Hungarian fan that stole the show. The Hungarian lady wanted an autograph on the Indian flag. Initially, Neeraj denied her but later signed it on the lady’s tshirt sleeves. Surely, the ace javelin thrower knows how to win hearts.
“I still have a lot to achieve. It’s not as if I have won all these medals so I’ll rest easy. I want to repeat this success year after year. I also want more Indians to join me on the podium. That will be fun,” he said after becoming the first Indian to win a World Athletics Championships gold.
The 25-year-old Chopra had a foul to start with, but then got 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m. Pakistan’s reigning Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem took the silver with his season’s best throw of 87.82m, while Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic got the bronze.
Chopra has now become only the second Indian after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships title. Bindra won the World Championships title when he was 23, and the Olympics gold at 25.