Neeraj Chopra Wiki, Age, Height, Family, Girlfriend, Wife, Biography, Facts & More

Neeraj Chopra is a well-known famous Indian javelin thrower and Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army. In 2020, Neeraj won the first gold medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics with a javelin mark of 87.58 m.

After Neeraj won the first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, he was superhit by the Indian media and also on social media. Check all the details below about Neeraj Chopra’s Wiki, Age, Height, Family, Girlfriend, Wife, Biography, Facts & More.

Wiki/Biography

Neeraj Chopra was born on Wednesday, 24th of December 1997 (Age: 25 years; As of 2022) in Khandra village, Panipat district, Haryana, India.

Neeraj was born in a Ror Maratha (ethnicity) family. His nationality is Indian. His zodiac sign is Capricorn. He follows Hinduism (religion).

Educational Qualification

Neeraj completed his schooling at the local school in his village. After completing schooling, he joined DAV College in Chandigarh but later, he dropped out of the college and continued his graduation through private (correspondence) from the Kurukshetra University of Haryana.

Physical Appearance

Height: 5′ 11″ inches

Weight: 86 kg

Eye Colour: Black

Hair Colour: Black

Family, Girlfriend & Wife

He was born into a farmer’s family in Haryana village. Neeraj’s father is Satish Kumar Chopra (farmer) and his mother is Saroj Devi (homemaker).

Also, he has two young sisters, Sangeeta and Sarita.

He lives in a joint family of more than 17 members and lives happily. Neeraj Chopra has no affair with anyone and no girlfriend/wife. He focused on his career in javelin throw only.

Career

Neeraj Chopra started his professional training career in the javelin throw at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Panchkula, Haryana. After training at SAI, Neeraj practiced at the Athletics Nursery at the Tau Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Haryana.

In a media interview, Neeraj shared that the Indian javelin thrower Jaiveer Choudhary was the first person who identified his talent for javelin throw. Neeraj said,

There were very few facilities to practice javelin in Panipat, the least of them the mud track that we ran on. When I decided to resume training seriously, I shifted to a sports nursery in Panchkula. I was 14. I practiced on a synthetic track for the first time and got to train with athletes who were playing at the national level. I played my first junior nationals in Lucknow in 2012 and broke the national record with a throw of 68.46 meters.

Also, Neeraj talked about the lack of sports facilities in his Khandra village of Haryana. He said,

I left home when I was 14, owing to a lack of facilities. My formal education was disturbed after class 9. My dream is that villagers need not shift to a city the way I shifted to Panchkula. Athletes from Haryana are winning at the national, international, and Olympics levels but my village still does not have a playground. Whenever I stay there, I need to practice on the road. If we are to become an Olympian nation, every village should have a stadium and get coaches from the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, where I now train.

Later, Neeraj participated in various national and international javelin throw tournaments and competitions. He won many medals at tournaments like Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and Asian Championships. During a media interview, while talking about winning the medals, Neeraj said,

After the youth nationals at Guntur where I won silver, I was selected for the World Youth Championships in Ukraine. In 2015, I was chosen for the National Games in Kerala. For the first time, in the camp, I got to practice with better-quality javelins, used internationally. Inferior quality javelins are heavier and can lead to injury: those with better material travel longer in the air. I threw it to a distance of 73.45 meters. In the same games, Rajinder Singh, my senior from Haryana, created a national record with a distance of 82.23.

Neeraj got selected as a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army in 2016 with the rank of Naib Subedar in the 4 Rajputana Rifles parent unit. After, he did his training at the Mission Olympics Wing and the Army Sports Institute in Pune. Later, Neeraj was promoted from the rank of Naib Subedar to Subedar.

He was selected for the Asian Games 2018 as the flag bearer of India at the opening ceremony. Neeraj qualified to participate in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, which was held in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Neeraj has been trained under expert coaches like Naseem Ahmad, Klaus Bartonietz, Gary Calvert, and Werner Daniels. In a media interview, while remembering the initial practice days of javelin throw, his coach Naseem Ahmad said,

He’d sit with his notebook and take tips from them. He would never shy away from training and would always set targets of winning each day’s round with the group. To see him win the gold medal today on the biggest stage is the greatest joy for us. And I am sure he will be spending time with the javelin throwers from the other countries just like he did here with his seniors and friends post-training or competition.

Neeraj Army coach Raj Kumar and his javelin throw personal coach are Uwe Hown from Germany.

Records

• 2018: National Record of 88.06 meters mark at the Asian Games
• 2021: He broke his own national record with an 88.07 meters javelin throw at the Indian Grand Prix.
• 2022: He set a new national record with an 89.30-meter throw at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland.

Medals

Gold Medal

• 2016: South Asian Games in Guwahati, India

• 2016: World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland
• 2017: Asian Championships in Bhubaneshwar, India
• 2018: Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia
• 2018: Sotteville Athletics Meet in Sotteville-les-Rouen, France
• 2018: Savo Games in Lapinlahti, Finland
• 2018: Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia
• 2021: Tokyo Olympics 2020 with a mark of 87.58 meters

Silver Medal

• 2016: Asian Junior Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

• 2017: Asian Grand Prix Series in Jinhua, China
• 2017: Asian Grand Prix Series in Jiaxing, China
• 2018: Offenburg Speerwurf Meeting in Offenburg, Germany
• 2022: Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland
• 2022: World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA

Bronze Medal

• 2017: Asian Grand Prix Series in Taipei, Taiwan

Awards & Honors

• In 2017, Neeraj was awarded by Captain Amarinder Singh for “Hindustan Times Top 30 under 30”.

• In 2018, Neeraj was awarded Arjuna Award by President of India Ramnath Kovind.

• In 2020, Neeraj was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM).
• In 2021, Neeraj awarded as Sportstar ACES Award- Sportsman of the Decade (Track and Field).

• In 2021, Neeraj awarded as Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

• In 2022, Neeraj was awarded Padma Shri (Sports) by the President of India (Ramnath Kovind).

• In 2022, Neeraj earned a nomination for the prestigious Laureus ‘World Breakthrough of the Year award. Neeraj is only the third Indian to be nominated for this award after Sachin Tendulkar and Vinesh Phogat.

Favourites

Javelin Thrower: Jan Zelezny

Singers: Rajender Kharkia and KD

Film: Rocky series, Laal Rang (2016)

Actor: Akshay Kumar, Randeep Hooda

Virtual Games: Javelin Master 2, Brothers in Arms, and Asphalt 8

Social Handles

Instagram: neeraj____chopra

Twitter: neeraj_chopra1

Facebook: neerajchopra01 

Amazing Facts of Neeraj Chopra

• In a media interview, Neeraj shared how he developed an interest in the javelin throw. He said,

As an obese child, at the age of 11. I weighed 80 kilos. To get into shape, I visited the Panipat Stadium during vacations. My pocket money was about Rs 30 and on many days I didn’t even have money for a glass of juice. I traveled by bus for about 17 kilometers to reach the stadium and returned with my uncle who worked in Panipat city. Although I was running to shed weight, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. I used to stand at some distance and watch my senior Jaiveer who has represented Haryana in javelin, practice. One day, at his behest, I tried the javelin. I discovered I could throw it far and the realization helped me regain my self-esteem.

• Neeraj’s family and friends lovingly call him Nijju.

• Neeraj received great support from his village people especially his uncle Bheem Singh who supported him to opt for javelin throw professionally and his family.

• In a media interview, while talking about Neeraj, his father said,

As a child, Neeraj used to twist the tails of buffaloes. Sometimes he used to harass the elderly by bursting crackers. The whole family was troubled by his words. Feeling proud to see a star adorned on my son’s shoulders. His father Satish Kumar said they had a joint family of 17. Neeraj was their eldest son. During his gym sessions in Panipat, Neeraj started visiting Shivaji Stadium. It was there that he came in contact with javelin thrower Jaiveer from Binjhol.

• He has appeared in various print advertisements for the electronics company “Amstrad”.

• Neeraj had an injury in the right elbow at the 68th All Indian Inter-Services Athletics in 2018 for which he underwent surgery in May 2019.

• In an interview, Neeraj shared that he used to be a vegetarian, but later he turned to non-vegetarian.
• Neeraj donated Rs. 2 lakh to the PM Cares Fund on 31st March 2020 for the coronavirus pandemic.
• He is an avid animal lover.

• Neeraj was congratulated by the CEO and founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg on giving a record-winning performance in the Under-20 World Championship in 2016.
• In a media interview, when Neeraj asked if he could reward himself with a cheat meal after a win, what would it be? Neeraj replied,

If after I win I want to have a cheat meal, I’ll usually eat something sweet. I usually restrict the number of sweets I eat normally so when I get the chance to have a cheat meal, I’ll usually eat a lot of sweets. I don’t even care what kind of sweets they are. What I really like is fresh homemade churma (crushed roti with sugar and ghee). It has a lot of ghee and sugar, so it’s something we can’t eat during training so it’s something I really enjoy.

• In a media interview, Neeraj’s uncle told that Neeraj was away from his phone for a year to prepare well for the Tokyo Olympics, He said,

Neeraj has worked hard to win a medal in the Olympics. His phone has been switched off for a year. We had spoken to him through a video call a week ago, that too from the manager’s phone. After that, there was no talk.

• Neeraj Chopra loves motorcycles and owns a Black Harley Davidson motorcycle.

• When he was a kid, he was chubby and wore a white kurta-pajama, and his village people call him Sarpanch.
• After winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in javelin throw, Neeraj said that he dedicated his medal to the legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh. On his victory over the javelin throw, the chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat said,

Neeraj Chopra has proven that when there is the WILL there is a way. He has done the Armed Forces and the Nation proud like many other Olympians who have created history in TOKYO 2020.

• Neeraj Chopra was featured in The Man Magazine of the Week.

• Neeraj Chopra Stadium for Army Sports Institute in Pune Cantt.

• Neeraj Chopra is in the commercial for MuscleBlaze.

• Neeraj Chopra shares his traveling photos on Instagram.

• Neeraj Chopra was featured in the Vogue Magazine Man of the Year in 2021.

• Neeraj Chopra was featured in Face Magazine in 2021.

• Neeraj congratulates Happy Olympic Day over Instagram.

• Earlier, he used to have long hair, but before TOKYO Olympics 2020, he chopped them off so his hair may not cause any trouble to him while practicing javelin throw.

• Neeraj was praised for his acting skills when he promoted a CRED commercial, soon after its release, the advertisement went viral on the internet in September 2021.

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