The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has decided that on 7th August every year will be celebrated as Javelin Throw Day in honor of Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra.
The 23-year-old Neeraj is India’s second individual Olympic gold medallist after Abhinav Bindra. Neeraj bagged the gold medal in men’s javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on 7th August 2021.
AFI Planning Committee Chairman Lalit K. Bhanot at a function to felicitate Neeraj Chopra said, “We will celebrate August 7th as National Javelin Day from next year to mark Neeraj’s victory. All our affiliated units will hold Javelin competitions in the respective States (and Union Territories). And a year later, we will get all our 600-plus district units also to have similar competitions on August 7″.
Speaking on the felicitation and the announcement made by the AFI, Neeraj said “I am feeling good that the AFI is making my achievement to be remembered in the years to come. I will be happier if my gold medal win inspires youngsters to take to athletics, especially Javelin Throw,” he said.
The felicitation ceremony which was held at the Taj Palace Banquet Hall, when he told reporters at a media interaction, “If the children are getting the Javelins and other facilities, I am sure they will come and take up the sport. I will be happy to cheer for them and they can be medal winners in the future”.
The AFI also felicitated Men’s 4x400m relay team that set a new Asian record at a time of 3:00.25, Kamalpreet Kaur who finished sixth in Women’s discus throw event with an effort of 63.70m, and Avinash Sable who improved his national record in the Men’s 3000m steeplechase event with a time of 8min 18.12sec at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
