'Felt goosebumps during national anthem': IAF lauds Neeraj Chopra's Olympic Gold win

Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra on August 7 marked a milestone as he secured India's first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, thereby ending the nation's 100-year-long wait of winning a medal in athletics in the global mega-event. The star Javelin Thrower hurled the spear for a distance of 87.58m, securing the gold medal and leaving the athletic world into a state of euphoria. Indian Air Force fraternity was quick to congratulate the 23-year-old from Khandra village near Panipat, Haryana for his glorious victory.

Indian Air Force hails Neeraj Chopra's win

Indian Air Force took to Twitter to state, "The Indian Air Force congratulates Subedar Neeraj Chopra for a phenomenal achievement. Thanks for the #goosebumps while hearing the National anthem!"

Indian Army Congratulates Neeraj Chopra

The gold medalist is also a soldier in the Indian Army. Neeraj Chopra is a Subedar with 4 Rajputana Rifles regiment. He is a graduate of DAV College in Chandigarh.

Minutes after Chopra's winning throw, the official Twitter handle of the Indian Army posted, "Proud. General MM Naravane COAS and All Ranks of IndianArmy congratulate Subedar Neeraj Chopra on winning Nation’s first-ever GoldMedal in Javelin in Olympics with a throw of 87.58 meters at Tokyo Olympics."

How Neeraj Chopra made India win first Gold at Tokyo Olympics

Chopra brought his A-game from the first round itself. In the first round, Neeraj Chopra broke his qualification record with his throw on Saturday in the finals. His first throw was 87.03 m, the second javelin throw was 87.58m, and the third throw was 76.79m. Neeraj Chopra's second throw moved him to the second round. In the second round, the first two throws from Chopra were foul throws and the final one was around 84 m.

Czech Republic throwers Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m) and Vitezslav Vesely (85.44m) took the silver and bronze respectively.

Chopra came into the final as a medal contender after topping the qualification round on Wednesday with a stunning first-round throw of 86.59m. But only a few would have thought he would bludgeon his way to gold in such a dominant fashion at the grandest of stages.

Not only did Neeraj Chopra win India's first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and ended his nation's century-long wait of winning a medal in athletics but he also became the second-ever individual athlete to win a gold medal for India at the mega-event. Shooter, Bindra was the first individual athlete who won a gold medal for India. Bindra had won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.