CHENNAI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be honouring Neeraj Chopra as the javelin thrower won a gold medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
"To commemorate this special and historic feat, on behalf of the fans Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd., India's much loved and celebrated sports team and Lieutenant Colonel MS Dhoni extend their wishes to Neeraj Chopra, a Junior Commissioned Officer in Indian Army," said CSK in an official statement.
As a mark of appreciation and honour on his stellar achievement, CSK will be awarding Rs 1 crore to Neeraj Chopra.
CSK Spokesperson said: "We as Indians are proud of Neeraj Chopra as his effort at Tokyo 2020 will inspire millions of Indians to take up sport and instill belief in them to be able to compete and excel at the highest level in any discipline of the sport. His Gold medal winning throw of 87.58m in the Men's Javelin has galvanized the entire nation."
CSK will be creating a special jersey with the number 8758 as a mark of respect to Neeraj Chopra.
Neeraj Chopra on Saturday threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m to pick the gold at the Olympics. He began his quest for a medal with a massive throw of 87.03 meters and was leading the pack after the end of the first attempt. He bettered it with the second throw of 87.58m.
While he wasn't able to improve any further, it was enough to get him the coveted medal. He is now the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win a gold medal in individual events.
India has now won seven medals in the multi-sporting event, its best-ever performance. In the ongoing Tokyo 2020, Bajrang Punia (Bronze), Mirabai Chanu (silver), PV Sindhu (bronze), Lovlina Borgohain (bronze), men's hockey team ( bronze), and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver) have also won medals.
Neeraj Chopra had announced his arrival in style in the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday when he threw a monstrous throw of 86.65m and automatically qualified for the final in his first attempt.