Nottingham: Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar celebrated javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s gold-winning moment at the Tokyo Olympics in the Men’s Javelin throw event by breaking into a famous Bollywood song “Mere Desh Ki Dharti” and can be seen clapping in the video in between his commentary stint for the first Test between India and England which is being played at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Chopra lived up to the expectations of billions back in India as he won gold medal on Saturday in Tokyo in the Men’s Javelin throw. He is the first javelin thrower from India to win a gold in the Olympics stage.

“Mere Desh Ki Dharti” is an Indian Hindi song from the Bollywood film Upkar (1967) starring Manoj Kumar in the lead. Gavaskar looked visibly elated with India’s performance on Saturday as wrestler Bajrang Punia also grabbed bronze medal on his Olympic debut after outwitting Daulet Niyazbekov in the men’s freestyle 65kg play-off just before Chopra’s event.

Chopra also became only the second Indian to win an individual gold in the Olympics, out-performing the field by quite a distance to notch up the first track-and-field Games medal for the country. The 23-year-old, who is from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana, produced a second-round throw of 87.58m in the finals to stun the athletics world and end India’s 100-year wait for a track and field medal in the Olympics. Chopra won the country’s seventh medal and first gold in this Olympics and joined shooter Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Games) as India’s individual gold winner.

Chopra came into the final as a medal contender after topping the qualification round on Wednesday with a stunning first-round throw of 86.59m. But few would have thought that he would bludgeon his way to gold in such a dominant fashion at the grandest of the stage. Just like in the qualification round three days back, Chopra began with a bang by sending the spear to a distance of 87.03m and then improved it to 87.58m, his best of the day which none in the field could match. His third throw was a poor 76.76m, he then fouled his next two attempts before a final effort of 84.24m.

(With PTI inputs)