After securing India’s second individual gold medal in the history of Olympic Games with a stellar performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, its time for pouring rewards for Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra for making the entire nation proud. The athlete from Haryana has been honoured by several state governments and private organisations for his achievement.
Haryana chief minister ML Khattar annonunced that Chopra will get a cash reward of ₹6 crore. Khattar also announced that the 23-year-old will be made head of the upcoming Centre for Excellence in Athletics in Panchkula. Appreciating Chopra for his historic win, Khattar added, “As per our sports policy, Neeraj Chopra will get a cash reward of ₹six crore, a Class-I job and a piece of plot of land at concessional rates.”
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced a special cash reward of ₹2 crore for Chopra. Singh said that it was a proud moment for India and all Punjabis referring to Chopra’s family roots in Punjab.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a cash reward of ₹1 crore for Chopra. Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings also announced a reward of ₹one crore for the athlete. As per the statement released by CSK, “As a mark of appreciation and honour on his stellar achievement, CSK is awarding Rs. 1 Crore to Neeraj Chopra.”
Indian airliner IndiGo has announced that it will offer unlimited free travel for one year to Chopra. The offer is applicable from August 8, 2021, till August 7, 2022. In a statement, Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said, “Neeraj we were all overjoyed to hear about your remarkable achievement. You have made the country proud, and I know all IndiGo employees would be truly honoured to welcome you onboard one of our flights.”
India’s biggest Edutech company BYJUS announced ‘2 crores for Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra and ‘1 crore each for individual Olympic medal winners – Mirabai Chanu, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Lovlina Borgohain, PV Sindhu, and Bajrang Punia. Byju Raveendran, Founder, and CEO of BYJU’S hoped that the gesture will help them in their journey going forward and encourage several other youngsters to follow their dreams.
Speaking about this gesture, Byju Raveendran, Founder, and CEO said, ‘Sports has a critical role to play in nation-building and it’s time that we celebrate our Olympic heroes, not just once in 4 years, but every single day. They deserve all the adoration they get, and after this historic achievement at Tokyo 2020 we are rewarding the players for their efforts, sacrifices and achievements.’
BYJU’s co-founder Divya Gokulnath said – “ Let us together celebrate our olympic heroes, not just once in 4 years, but every single day. We hope that this small gesture will help them in their journey going forward to win more laurels for the country and also encourage many more youngsters to dream big”.
Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra, has announced to give a brand new XUV 700 to Chopra when he returns to India. Realty firm Elan Group’s chairman Rakesh Kapoor has announced a ₹25 lakh cash award for Chopra, reported news agency PTI.
The Manipur government has announced to award Chopra ₹1 crore. Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said in a tweet, “On this historic day where India bagged an Olympic Gold medal in an athletic event after 100 years, the Manipur State Cabinet has decided to honour the Javelin throw Gold medalist @Neeraj_chopra1 by extending a reward of ₹1 Crore. Congratulations on this historic win, Neeraj.”
“#NeerajChopra made history winning India’s first-ever track and field Olympic gold and in the past 24 hours was the most mentioned athlete globally on both Facebook and Instagram and added more than 700K IG followers. Over the past 24 hours, India was the country talking about the Games the most on FB, and the National Flag of India was the third most-used emoji on the app” Joyee Biswas Director (Head of) Sports Partnerships, Asia-Pacific Facebook said.
