Neeraj looks to grab India’s first athletics medal in Olympic

A pre-tournament medal contender, Chopra, 23, fuelled country’s expectations by topping the qualification round with a stunning first round throw of 86.59m

All eyes will be on Neeraj Chopra to deliver India’s elusive Olympic medal in athletics and end a wait of 100 years when he competes in the men’s javelin throw final here on Saturday.

A pre-tournament medal contender, Chopra, 23, fuelled country’s expectations by topping the qualification round with a stunning first round throw of 86.59m.

Three track and field athletes were part of the five-member Indian team at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium—the other two being wrestlers. Since then, no Indian has won a medal in athletics. 

The International Olympic Committee still credits Norman Pritchard’s 200m and 200m hurdles silver medals in the 1900 Paris Olympics to India though various research, including the records of then IAAF (now World Athletics), showed that he had competed for Great Britain.

A farmer’s son from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana who took up athletics to shed flab, Chopra can script history by winning the elusive medal, which the likes of late Milkha Singh and PT Usha let it slip from their grasp in 1964 and 1984 editions. “I will need to focus on the throw, and try to repeat this [performance] with a higher score,” Chopra had said after the qualifying round on Wednesday.

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