Neeraj Chopra: New Indian Athletics Sensation

Indian flag-bearer Neeraj Chopra broke the national record of Javelin Throw to bring home the second gold medal for the country in Athletics at this year's Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. This is the first ever gold won by an Indian in this event at Asiad.

To smash his own previous personal and national record, Chopra touched the 88.06m mark in his third attempt at the final round of the event.

This entire season, he has remained very consistent as he has got seven 85m mark which is the highest among all his Asian counterparts. It is definitely some special talent if he is compared to all the other elite athletes till now at their age of 20 years.

This was also mentioned by the former World Championships medalist, Anju Bobby George as she called him the 'most promising young Indian athlete today' and also said that that best of his performances are yet to come. "It is not often that a young Indian track and field athlete enjoys such a ringing endorsement, but then, it’s also not often that someone like Neeraj Chopra comes along", she added.

His previous coach, Garry Calvert also praised him and called him “once-in-a-generation talent.”

Chopra's previous best score came earlier this year with an 87.43m throw that came at the IAAF Diamond League in Doha earlier this year. He also won a gold at this year's Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Athletic Championships with throws of 86.47 meters and 85.23 meters respectively.

Besides him, another Indian athlete, Shivpal Singh who was also supposed to participate in this event had to withdraw midway due to a shoulder injury.

India last finished on the podium in javelin event back at the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, when Gurtej Singh won a bronze for the nation.