New Delhi/Tokyo | Jagran Sports Desk: India’s 13-year wait for an Olympic Gold medal is over with Neeraj Chopra’s glorious throw of 87.58 meters in Javelin Throw final at Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. Scripting history in Track and Field events long mired by the near medal finishes by the greats such as Milkha Singh and PT Usha, Neeraj Chopra bagged an Olympic Gold to join shooter Abhinav Bindra at the top. Bindra, who won the Gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will now have company.

Neeraj Chopra, a once chubby Panipat boy who got into Athletics by chance, ended up being the first Indian ever to win a Gold medal in Athletics in the country's Olympics history. The 23-year-old from Haryana is also India's second individual Olympic gold medallist besides Bindra.

Also read: Tokyo Olympics: Neeraj Chopra wins historic Gold in Javelin throw as India records best-ever finish in Games

Neeraj, who dedicated his Olympic Gold to Indian Track and Field legend Milkha Singh, hails from a humble agrarian family from Haryana’s Panipat. A 12-year-old Neeraj Chopra was reportedly over 90 kilos. So his family forced him to hit the gym to get in shape. His journey in the Track and Field began by chance when to shed a few kilos off his body, he was at a forced jog session at Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi.

At Shivaji stadium, he met former National level Javelin thrower, Jai Choudhary, where Choudhary casually asked Neeraj to throw the javelin. An overweight Neeraj threw between 35-40 metres, an impressive distance for a first timer. This was the beginning of the rise of an Indian Athletics star who was to win the Gold at successive continental events and then at Olympics. By 2016, a 17-year-old Neeraj was already breaking world record in World U20 Championships.

Thereafter, Chopra has consistently been an athlete of Golden finishes. He won Gold medals at the Asian Athletic Championships, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and 2018 Asian Games. In March 2021, he broke his own National record by an attempt of 88.07 metres.

Neeraj Chopra scripted a glorious moment in India’s Athletics history in Tokyo Olympics on Saturday by winning a Gold medal, the second-only individual Gold medal for an Indian Olympian after shooter Abhinav Bindra.