Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra nominated for the Laureus Breakthrough Award

Neeraj Chopra is a special name in Indian sports as the Javelin thrower created history when he won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, becoming Idia’s first gold medal in Athletics at the Summer Games.

Courtesy of his sensational achievement Neeraj Chopra has been nominated for the prestigious 2022 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.

There are huge panellists of 1,300  journalists and broadcasters who cast their votes in seven different categories for the prestigious Laureus Award. The winners of the categories will be revealed in April. It will only be decided after conducting a vote that will be held among the 71 of the greatest sporting legends of all time.

Neeraj’s rise to the global scene has been exceptional and the way he has stunned everyone in his first Summer Games did inspire an entire nation. His contribution to athletics is already groundbreaking and with age on his side, Neeraj can still create a lot more moments to celebrate for India.

Neeraj is only the second Indian to win the gold medal at the Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra did it for the first time back in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.

Neeraj Chopra is only the third sportsperson to get nominated for the Laureus Award after wrestler Vinesh Phogat in 2019 and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar who won the Laureus sporting moment award 2000-2020. The scene was when Sachin Tendulkar was carried by his teammates on their shoulders after India’s World Cup in 2011.

Neeraj was ecstatic when he heard that he has been nominated for the Laureus award. He highlighted his early life struggles and also shared how special he felt hearing the news of getting a Laureus award.

Neeraj Chopra said: “I’m delighted to be nominated for this Laureus Award and it’s a great honour for me to be recognised in the wider sporting world for what I achieved in Tokyo. From being a kid in a small village in rural India who only took up sport to get fit, to standing on top of an Olympic podium, it’s been quite an eventful journey so far.”

“I feel privileged to be able to represent my country and win India medals at the global stage, and now to have this recognition from Laureus and be considered alongside such exceptional athletes is a really special feeling,” he continued.

Apart from Neeraj Chopra, the other nominees for the Laureus Breakthrough Award are UNited Kingdom’s new tennis sensational Emma Raducanu, who created history by winning the US Open last year after getting into the tournament by winning the qualifiers. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev who also won the US Open is nominated for the award.FC Barcelona’s teenage sensational Pedri is also on the list along with Yulimar Rojas, who broke the 26-year-old triple jump world record, and swimmer Ariarne Titmus, aged 20, who twice beat champion Katie Ledecky at 200 and 400m at the  Tokyo Olympics.