Chopra meets Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya after returning home

PTI, Sep 27, 2024, 7:30 PM IST

New Delhi: Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Friday met Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya here after winding up an eventful season that was dotted with an Olympic silver medal and a second-place finish in the Diamond League grand finale.

The 26-year-old Chopra returned home after becoming the first Indian track-and-field athlete to claim successive Olympic medals by adding a silver in Paris after winning a momentous gold in Tokyo three years ago.

The two-time Olympic medallist concluded his season with a second-place finish at the Diamond League finale in Brussels.

“Met our Olympic champion @Neeraj_chopra1 in New Delhi today. Sent him best wishes for the future,” Mandaviya tweeted.

Chopra was accompanied by his uncle Bhim.

On Friday, Chopra graced an event in Sonepat and was present at a conference on ‘Mission Olympics 2036’ organised at the Sports University of Haryana.

Chopra battled an adductor muscle niggle throughout the year and it affected his performance at both the Olympics and the DL finale, where he also competed with a fractured left hand.

He had spoken about consulting doctors at the end of the season to decide whether to go for a surgery to fix the problem.

In the Paris Olympics, his silver-winning throw was 89.45m and he was bested by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who broke the Games record with a 92.97m effort.

At the DL finale, Chopra threw 87.86m to miss the top spot by just one centimetre.