Happy Birthday Neeraj Chopra: Interesting facts about the Golden Boy of India

India’s ‘Golden Boy’ Neeraj Chopra turns a year older today. Born on December 24, 1997, the reigning Olympic Champion and World Champion in Men’s javelin throw, Neeraj is celebrating his 26th birthday today.

As Chopra celebrates his birthday today, let us tell you a few interesting and unknown facts about the Golden Boy.
1.    He is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in javelin and the first Asian to win gold at the World Championship.
2.    Chopra is also the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics.

3.    He is also the first track and field athlete from India to win at the World Under-20 Championships.
4.    Chopra belongs to a family largely involved in agriculture and has two sisters.
5.    He has graduated in BA from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, Punjab.
6.    The Indian Army offered him direct appointment as Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) which he accepted and joined the army under the sports quota.
7.    Chopra was very fat as a kid. It was his father who enrolled him in a gym after his friends and other children teased him about his childhood obesity.
8.    He was admitted to the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex when he was 13 years old and trained under javelin thrower Akshay Choudhary.
9.    Even as he played his first international competition in 2013, he won his first international medial a year after in 2014. It was a silver at the Youth Olympics in Bangkok.
10.    He is one of the youngest sportsperson to receive the Arjuna Award from Ram Nath Kovind, former President of India.