Republic Day 2022: Olympics Gold medalist Neeraj Chopra to be awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal

Neeraj Chopra is the first athlete to bag a gold medal for India at Olympics. President Ram Nath Kovind will award 384 defence personnel with gallantry and distinguished awards at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday.   

Gold medalist Olympian Neeraj Chopra of 4 Rajputana Rifles has been conferred with Param Vishisht Seva Medal on the eve of 73rd Republic Day celebrations.  He is the first athlete to bag a gold medal for India at Olympics.  President Ram Nath Kovind will award 384 defence personnel with gallantry and distinguished awards at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday.   

Among the awards that will be conferred upon the defence personnel, include 12 Shaurya Chakras, 29 Param Vishisht Seva Medals, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 13 Yudh Seva Medals, three Bar to Vishisht Seva Medals.

President Kovind will also present 122 Vishisht Seva Medals, three Bar to Sena Medals for Gallantry, 81 Sena Medals for Gallantry, two Vayu Sena Medals for Gallantry, 40 Sena Medals for Devotion to Duty, eight Nao Sena Medals for Devotion to Duty, and 14 Vayu Sena Medals.

Who is Neeraj Chopra?

He is a javelin thrower, who clinched first-ever gold medal in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics on August 7 last year.  Born on December 24, 1997 to a family of farmers from Haryana’s Panipat, Chopra graduated from Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College in Chandigarh. His mother is a housewife and father is a farmer. His home state Haryana will display his life-size replica in the form of a tableau during this year’s Republic Day parade at Rajpath in Delhi on January 26.

Neeraj Chopra joined the Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and Naib Subedar in 2016. His unit is 4 Rajputana Rifles, which is on me of the oldest units of Indian Army.  Naib Subedar is a rank that JCOs reach after 20 years of service. Currently, he is promoted to the rank of Subedar after his performance at the Asian Games. He was trained by the Indian Army at Pune-based Army Sports Institute for the ‘Mission Olympics Wing’. 

Under its Mission Olympics Wing, the Army identifies and trains promising athletes in 11 sports for national and international tournaments. In 2018, he was awarded with the Arjuna Award as well as the prestigious Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) in 2020 for his sporting excellence.  He also got the Khel Ratna Award, also known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, for his performance at the Olympics.