4 iconic Indian sportspersons who switched from cricket in their childhood

#2 Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra

The world junior record holder in javelin throw is a man of many talents. He started his career by playing cricket and volleyball but was made to shift to javelin by his uncle at the age of 13.

He burst on to the scene in 2012 where he broke the U16 national record to win gold at the 28th Junior Nationals in Lucknow. Two years later, he broke the U18 national mark as well. He subsequently broke all sorts of records in every tournament he participated. This included his gold medal at the South Asian Games in 2016.

However, the big moment came at the IAAF World U20 Championships, where he recorded a mammoth throw of 86.48m. His form continued at the Asian Athletics Championship in 2017, where he clinched the gold medal with his final throw.

One can only help but wonder how much the fielding skills he used in cricket worked for him in throwing the javelin too!