World Athletics Day today, 7 May, celebrates the importance of sports in our lives. And what better way to do so than appreciate some of the best athletes in the country?
Neeraj Chopra won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Several Indian athletes have made the country proud in recent years. Be it Neeraj Chopra winning the gold medal in javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics or Dutee Chand becoming the first Indian to clinch the gold medal at a global 100 metres event, there is no dearth of sportspersons who have stunned the country with their sporting abilities.
World Athletics Day today, 7 May, celebrates the importance of sports in our lives. And what better way to do so than appreciate some of the best athletes in the country?
Here are some of the nation’s shining stars in the field of athletics:
Neeraj Chopra
The Olympian made the country proud when he became the first Indian to win an individual gold in athletics at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Apart from that, the 24-year-old has achieved several other milestones. Chopra was also the first Indian track and field athlete to set a world record at the World U20 Championships 2016. He has also been the national record holder for the men’s javelin throw since 2016.
Dutee Chand
She won the silver medal for the 100m and 200m events at the 2018 Asian Games. Chand is only the fifth Indian to participate in the women’s 100m at the Olympics.
In 2019, she was the first Indian to bag a medal at a global 100m event in 2019 at the World Universiade in Naples. She is also an icon for the LGBTQ community as the sprinter is the first openly lesbian athlete in the country.
Seema Punia
The superstar discus thrower made her fourth Olympics appearance in Tokyo. Punia won a bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She also clinched two successive silver medals at the Glasgow and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. The Olympian also bagged the gold medal in the 2014 Asian Games.
Swapna Barman
The 2018 Asian Games gold medallist is the first Indian woman to clinch the top prize in a heptathlon event. In April this year, Barman bagged the gold medal in the Federation Cup event in Kozhikode despite battling health scare and injuries for a long time.
Tajinder Pal Singh Toor
The two-time national champion made his Olympics debut in shot put at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Toor had qualified for the prestigious sporting event with an attempt of 21.49m, a new record in both India and Asia. The shot putter has also won three successive Federation Cups, as well as a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games.
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