As Neeraj Chopra makes hory, javelin gets a running start in his village | Sport-others News

On Sunday, Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championship.The moment — he lined up in the final alongside Kishore Jena (5th) and D P Manu (6th) making India only the fourth country ever to have three finals — underlined the country’s rising stature in a sport that was relatively unknown until August 2021, when Chopra won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal. And nothing signifies the pace with which javelin throw is picking up than its spreading popularity in the hometown of the man who made it all happen.In Khandra, near Panipat, where Chopra spent his formative years, athletics is the latest obsession. His world-leading exploits are a source of inspiration for the young boys and girls in the village.
Harinder Kumar, a former decathlete, has known Chopra for over a decade now, having trained together between 2012 and 2015 at Panchkula. He started providing after-school track-and-field coaching to children at the Sanskriti Public School between 2019 and 2020. Initially, he had just a handful of students, all from Khandra. Today, that number is close to 45.

In Khandra, near Panipat, where #NeerajChopra spent his formative years, athletics is the latest obsession. Here’s the world champion training at the Sanskriti Public School ground.
Read full story from @namitkumar_17: https://t.co/jlRTkhw4HA pic.twitter.com/r8PxlfLtkx
— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) August 28, 2023
Given that most are young children practising different disciplines, Khandra is yet to become Bangaon — the ‘Little Finland’ of javelin throwers in Haryana producing junior champions — but Chopra’s influence and the popularity of javelin among the young athletes is evident.
Harinder says Chopra made it known years ago that he wanted to help, and often returns from abroad with equipment, including javelins, for the children. But, other than the monetary support, Chopra’s most significant contribution is as a source of inspiration.
Nothing signifies the pace with which javelin throw is picking up than its spreading popularity in the hometown of the man who made it all happen. (Express photo)
“Every time he’s in town, in India, he visits the ground, trains there himself. Then he talks to the children and passes on tips. He also lets us know what we are doing right or wrong at the academy. For the children, that interaction is a big thing,” says Harinder.
That effect has rubbed off on the parents as well. “Post-2021, the mentality of parents has changed. If someone from the village goes all the way to Olympic gold, achieves something nobody else from here has achieved, then it obviously causes people to take sports seriously,” he says.
Satish Kumar is one such parent. Both his children, as well as his nephews and nieces — all aged between 9 and 16 years — train at the school. If he considered sport to be a hob or draction earlier, he now considers it a necessity. “I see it in the children, how they’ve been motivated what Neeraj achieved. They want to replicate his achievements, even if it happens in some other field… it has made them hungry… The point is not to become a champion athlete, but to stay interested and driven,” he says.
Given that most are young children practising different disciplines, Khandra is yet to become Bangaon — the ‘Little Finland’ of javelin throwers in Haryana producing junior champions — but Chopra’s influence and the popularity of javelin among the young athletes is evident. (Express photo)
The sentiment that sport must be enjoyed and engaged with before worrying about success runs deep within the community. And Chopra subscribes to it.
“Every time I have spoken to him (Chopra) about the children, he tells me, ‘reduce their workloads, don’t enter them in competitions if they’re not ready, let them have fun’,” Harinder says. “We mostly work with young children. So Neeraj’s point is that we don’t need to push them yet, we need to keep them happy and make sure they want to come to the ground every day. If their interest levels continue to be high, the medals will come on their own.”
Even with limited interaction, the interest and excitement for sport in Khandra – the kind of quaint small town where sport would stereotypically be seen as an excess or luxury – feels palpable.Most Read
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“Every time he’s in town, in India, he visits the ground, trains there himself. Then he talks to the children and passes on tips,” shares Harinder. (Express photo)
“It’s a kind of revolution,” says Chopra’s great uncle, Ishwar Chopra. He pulls out his phone and scrolls through dozens of videos of children training at the school – from practising javelin motions throwing balls on the wall, to long jump and triple jump in makeshift sandpits, and high jump using bamboo sticks. He firmly believes it’s the “Neeraj Chopra effect”.

On Sunday afternoon, hours before the final, the crisis of the moment in the Chopra household was to fix the ground-floor television. There were no plans to hold a screening, but drinks and snacks were being bought and seats were being arranged, just in case.
“In our community, we don’t take permission to enter each other’s houses. Our doors will be open, and the TV will be on. Everyone is welcome,” says Chopra’s uncle, Bhim Chopra. Given the late-night start for the final, he did not expect a huge turnout. But he was confident that most of the crowd will be children.