Neeraj Chopra to be India's flag-bearer for Asian Games opening ceremony

Ace Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was appointed as India's flag-bearer for the upcoming Asian Games opening ceremony in Jakarta on August 18.

The 20-year old Neeraj was selected from the contingent of 572 athletes named by the Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra.

He is also among one of the major anticipated athletes of winning a gold medal for India this year in the Javelin Throw event as he also won a gold at Asian Athletic Championships 2017 with the highest throw of 85.23 meters. Besides that, he also grabbed gold in the 2016 IAAF World U-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

But the biggest achievement for the field athlete came earlier this year during the Commonwealth Games where he outshined eveyone to bag the gold medal with a season best throw of 86.47 meters in men's Javelin Throw event.

"I am thrilled to be chosen as flag bearer of the Asian Games. It is a huge honour to be leading the Indian contingent in such a big event," Neeraj said from his training camp in Finland. -PTI

"I did not know this as I was not told earlier about this. This is going to be my first (to be a flag bearer) and it's happening in the Asian Games," he added. -PTI

The athlete was earlier planned to be sent a few Days before his event on August 27 but now he had to be present there well before that about which he is very excited.

Former Indian Hockey team skipper Sardar Singh was the flag-bearer who represented the contingent at 2014 Asian Games in Incheon,South Korea where the Indian camp won a total of 57 medals in that outing which consisted of 10 gold, 11 silver and 36 bronze medals

The Asiad 2018 will be held between August 18 and September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.