Rajputana Regiment Jawans Neeraj Chopra & Deepak Punia felicitated by Lt Gen KJS Dhillon

Indian Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and Wrestler Deepak Punia received felicitation from the Colonel of Rajputana Rifles Lt Gen KJS Dhillon for the brave performance they put up at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Gold medalist Javelin thrower Subedar Neeraj Chopra and semi-finalist wrestler Deepak Punia received a cheque of Rs 6 lakhs and Rs 4.55 lakhs respectively. Both the athletes serve the Rajputana Rifles regiment of the Indian Army.

Star athlete Neeraj Chopra earned India’s first gold medal in an individual field and track event by throwing his javelin to a staggering distance of 87.58 meters. By achieving this feat, he became the only Indian after Abhinav Bindra to have won the Olympics gold for India in an individual event. On the other hand, Deepak Punia reached the semi-finals of the Men’s Wrestling event in the Men’s freestyle 86kg category after defeating Lini Zushen of China by 6-3. However, he could not stick to the winning ways after suffering a heavy defeat of 10-0 in the semi-finals. Punia also missed out on the Bronze medal after losing 2-4 to San Marino’s Myles Amine and had to eventually settle for fourth place.

'Future of athletics in India is going to be amazing'

Upon his return from the Tokyo Games, while talking in an exclusive interview with Republic TV, Chopra said, “In our country, there was a wait for a medal in athletics that has been fulfilled with a Gold. I always received support but today, the kind of respect and love I have received is at another level. An athlete always dreams of the moment when a Gold medal is hung around his neck and you see the flag being hoisted on your national anthem. That is a different feeling. I thought in my mind, that the medal I have won was a dream of the late Milkha Singh ji and that dream has come true. It is unfortunate that he is not amongst us, but he must be happy wherever he is. When asked what the future holds for Athletics in India, Chopra concluded by saying “The future of athletics is going to be amazing. Not only me, we saw so many athletes doing so well. So we know the coming future of athletics will be bright."

Image Source: ANI