This year India created a record by winning the highest number of medals it ever had in the history of Asian games. India won a total of 69 medals this year, breaking its own record of 65 in the last Asian games. India was ranked 8th among all the countries that participated in the event.
One of the biggest highlights of this year’s Asian games was Neeraj Chopra’s historic win in the Javelin throw. This is the first time in the history of our country that we were able to win gold in a game like Javelin throw. Neeraj is, just 20 years old, has created a history that the country will remember in the coming years. We do have a bronze medal in Javelin throw which was won by Gurtej Singh in the 1982 Asian games. Chopra’s winning throw came in his third attempt. His winning throw was 88.06m. He started with 83.46m and had a foul on his second attempt. Liu Qizhen of China came second with the best throw of 82.22m and the third place was bagged by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem with the best throw of 80.75m.
Neeraj was trained by the prominent coach, Werner Daniels. He did 3 months of training under this Coach in Germany. Neeraj in the felicitation program by the Army said that during his days in Germany, he had to make his own food and do all the chores. He had worked very hard for the gold medal and he hopes that other people get motivated to take up sports and do well for the country.
At such a small age of 20, there is nothing the unnerves Neeraj Chopra. The big stage brings the best out of him, the competition drives him to do better and pressure is an alien concept for this him. Confidence has always been a hallmark of Neeraj Chopra. Even before the beginning of the games, he seemed very confident for his performance. After the event, Chopra with a smile said, “Pressure toh kya he tha, training achi thi toh pressure kuch itna khas nahi tha” ( There was no pressure. As the training was good, there was no pressure).
With exceptionally good performances at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, the people of India have started dreaming for a medal in Olympics. Chopra himself has been planning to win big in the next Olympic games. He plans to start training according to that. He is planning to throw 90m to ensure a medal for our country at world level and Olympics. His Competitors, the German duo of Johannes Vetter(94.44) and Thomas Rohler(93.90) are placed second and third in all-time best javelin throw list.
The entire country is very proud of Neeraj Chopra. A boy from a small town in Haryana, works hard and represents the country in an International event and wins a Gold for the country. This is a story that has turned out to be very inspirational.
Chopra has dedicated his Asian Games medal to our late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.