I still vividly remember my first meeting with Neeraj Chopra at a restaurant in 2016.
The teenager I first met wasn’t the Uber cool poster boy of track and field in the country. He was hankering for recognition after smashing a world record at the World Under-20 Athletics Championship and was crestfallen after missing the flight to Rio.
Chopra’s feat was unprecedented in India’s athletics history. He was the first javelin gold medal winner in the World Championships.
Although his record did not grab as much limelight as PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik – riding a wave of popularity after their exploits at the Rio Olympics, he was excited about one fact. Among the congratulatory messages that reached the inbox of the 18-year-old World Champion’s iPhone were those by Katrina Kaif and Mark Zuckerberg. “I got the first message of congratulations from the Prime Minister. It was followed by the Chief Minister of Haryana, Olympic winner Rajyavardhan Rathore, cricketers VVS Laxman, and Shikhar Dhawan. Then came messages from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and film stars Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif,” he told this writer in an interview then.
Gladiatorial lineage
During the interview, I discovered where Neeraj got his gladiatorial genes. It’s his lineage.
A few centuries ago, his ancestors migrated to Haryana to take up the sword for Balaji Baji Rao in the third battle of Panipat. Today, Chopra, one of their descendants, a proud Ror Maratha settled in the Jat heartland, is taking the legacy forward by wielding the modern-day avatar of the spear to create history in track and field for India.
When his flight landed from Poland at 1 am, the then 18-year-old got his first taste of celebrity celebrations, Haryana-style. More than 100 people from his village Khandra, in Khandra district, had landed to receive him with garlands. “As I came out of the airport, even at 2 am, there was a crowd of more than 100 people waiting for me with garlands. I got a traditional drumbeat welcome, as happens in Haryana.”
Fat to fab
As an obese child, at the age of 11, Neeraj weighed 80 kilos. To get into shape, he visited the Panipat Stadium during his summer break. His pocket money allowance was Rs 30 and many days he could not even afford a glass of juice. “I travelled by bus for about 17 kilometres to reach the stadium and returned with my uncle who worked in Panipat city. Although I was running to shed weight, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. I used to stand at some distance and watch my senior Jaiveer, who has represented Haryana in javelin, practise. One day, at his behest, I tried the javelin. I discovered I could throw it far and the realisation helped me regain my self-esteem.”
Jaiveer was the first to identify Neeraj’s potential. At 14, he shifted to a sports nursery in Panchkula. He practised on a synthetic track for the first time and played his first junior nationals in Lucknow in 2012 and broke the national record with a throw of 68.46 metres. But, as they say, this was just the tip of the javelin…
In 2015, Neeraj was chosen for the National Games in Kerala. For the first time, in the camp, he got to practise with superior, world-class javelins. Inferior quality javelins are heavier and can lead to injury: those with better material travel longer in the air. He breached the distance of 73.45 metres.
As a teenager, Neeraj loved listening to Haryanvi Raagini singers such as Rajender Kharkia and watching films that featured Sylvester Stallone and Akshay Kumar. Sabse bada khiladi, did someone say?
The day I met Neeraj, he was still nursing a grudge about not qualifying for Rio owing to an injury. “It rankles a lot… A few days before qualifying, I sustained a back injury. It wasn’t too bad but I returned home by a Haryana Roadways bus and that aggravated it. I rested and underwent physiotherapy. There was a competition in Germany and I began training there. I missed out on Olympic qualification, but after the World Championship, I am confident of getting a medal for the country in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” he had said.
Neeraj famously kept his word in Tokyo. Can he do it again in Paris?
As an 18-year-old junior World Champion, he was excited about getting congratulatory messages from Katrina Kaif and Mark Zuckerberg. Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
