India's most decorated athlete Neeraj Chopra was conferred with the Honorary Rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army. As per The Gazette of India, a public journal and an authorised legal document of the Government of India, dated May 9 stated the appointment came into effect from April 16, 2025.
“No 3 (E) dated 9th May 2025 in exercise of the powers conferred by Para -31 of the Territorial Army Regulations, 1948, the president is pleased to confer on sEx- Sub Maj Neeraj Chopra, PVSM, Padma Shri, VSM, Village & Post Office Khandra, Panipat, Haryana with effect from 16 April, 2025,” a statement from Major General GS Choudhry, Joint Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, read.
Neeraj earlier held the rank of Naib Subedar in the Indian Army after being enrolled as a Junior Commissioned Officer on August 26, 2016.
Neeraj is the first Indian to win an Olympics gold in any track and field events, achieving the feat at the Tokyo Games. In the next edition, which was held in Paris, the star javelin thrower secured silver, losing gold to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem. Apart from that Neeraj also has World Championship glories under his name. The 27-year-old in 2023 became the first Indian to clinch the World Athletics Championship gold, after settling for silver, which in itself is a remarkable achievement, in the previous edition.
Neeraj Chopra to compete in Doha, Poland
Neeraj will compete in the 71st ORLEN Janusz Kusociński Memorial event in Chorzów, Poland, on May 23 following the postponement of next week's NC Classic in Bengaluru. He was slated to compete in the NC Classic — an event he was also set to host on May 24 — alongside several global and Indian stars but the event was postponed in the wake of the military confrontation between India and Pakistan.
In Chorzow, Neeraj will be up against two-time world champion and Paris Olympics bronze medallist Anderson Peters of Grenada, Germany's Julian Weber and Polish national record holder Marcin Krukowski. Other Polish competitors include Cyprian Mrzyglod and Dawid Wegner.The event in Poland will be the third competition for Neeraj in the season. He started at South Africa.
His next event is on May 16 at the Doha Diamond League where he won the title in 2023 (88.67m) and finished second in 2024 (88.36m). Peters will be Neeraj's rival in Doha also.
-with PTI inputs
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