Neeraj Chopra, India’s first-ever winner of an Olympic athletics gold medal, has been nominated for the 2022 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. He is one of the six nominees for the prestigious award.
With his second throw measuring 87.58 meters, Chopra became the first Indian track and field athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The first Indian sportsperson to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games was Abhinav Bindra in air rifle in 2008.
Chopra is only the third Indian athlete to be nominated for a Laureus Award, after wrestler Vinesh Phogat in 2019 and cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who won the Laureus Sporting Moment Award 2000-2020, which marked an emotional moment during the 2011 ICC World Cup when his team carried him on their shoulders in a lap of honour after India’s win.
