(From left) Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu and PV Sindhu. (File photo| AP and AFP)
(From left) Neeraj Chopra, Mirabai Chanu and PV Sindhu. (File photo| AP and AFP)

BYJU'S announces Rs 2 crore award for Neeraj Chopra, Rs 1 crore each for other Olympic medallists

With a total of seven medals, Team India came up with its best-ever Olympics performance at Tokyo. 

CHENNAI: August 7, 2021 will forever be etched in the history of Indian sports as the day India won its first-ever gold in athletics through javelin ace Neeraj Chopra. With a total of seven medals, Team India came up with its best-ever Olympics performance at Tokyo. 

To salute the stars, edtech major BYJU's has announced ₹2 crores for Neeraj Chopra and ₹1 crore each for the other medallists - Mirabai Chanu, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Lovlina Borgohain, PV Sindhu and Bajrang Punia. 

Their performances have been nothing short of inspirational, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 lockdown in 2020-2021, a press release by the company noted. 

Neeraj Chopra's first throw eased his nerves and would go on to prove good enough to win him gold. But he went on to clear an even longer 87.58 meters with his second.

“It is always crucial to get your first throw well. It helps ease the pressure. And that’s what happened. This also puts pressure on others who would be competing next,” the 23-year-old later said after sealing a historic gold.

Neeraj went on to dedicate his gold to the late great Milkha Singh who missed the bronze in the 400 m race by 0.1 seconds at the Rome Olympics and also remembered those who helped him. "When I didn’t know anything, they helped me. Whoever you started out with, you musn’t ever forget them. There is this guy, a fellow thrower, who had lots of injuries. He helped me a lot but he couldn’t continue his career because of injuries," a grateful Neeraj said.

After his company's announcement, 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 four 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."

"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. India has a huge potential to produce many more sporting champions and it is important to celebrate successes like this and make them heroes so that we transform ourselves from a Sport loving nation to a sport playing nation. Thank you for filling us with so much pride."

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