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Olympic Gold medalist in javelin throw, Neeraj Chopra, was nominated for the Male Athlete of the Year award by World Athletics on Thursday. This is a moment of pride for India, and one can expect the army man to win the laurel as well.
Chopra, who is also the reigning World Champion in men's javelin throw, has been a great ambassador for the country in the sport. A junior commissioned officer in the army, Chopra hails from Haryana.
Chopra recently won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw event at the Hangzhou Asian Games with one of his best throws- 88.88m. Earlier this year in August, Chopra had won the gold medal in the World Athletics Championships with a throw of 88.17m.
In May this year, Neeraj Chopra also claimed the top spot in the Doha Diamond League with a throw of 88.67m. Later that month, he also achieved the first position in the men's javelin throw rankings issued by World Athletics.
Neeraj Chopra is the youngest Indian to win individual Olympic gold
Neeraj Chopra is currently one of only two Indians to have won an Olympic gold medal in an individual event (Abhinav Bindra was the other in 2008.)
His winning the gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was a matter of immense pride for India and undoubtedly played a role in him being nominated for the Male Athlete of the Year award by World Athletics.
However, he has been phenomenal in the last two years as well, with the medals he collected in the Asian Games as well as two World Championships. It is worth noting that he bagged the silver medal at the 2022 World Championships held in Eugene, USA.
The Indian has an extremely high chance of being voted as the Male Athlete of the Year by millions of his supporters from across the globe. India will be keen on having him bag this award.
