Family, friends await Neeraj Chopra's arrival in hometown, grand celebrations planned

PANIPAT: With Olympic Gold medallist Neeraj Chopra heading home to Samalkha in Panipat on Tuesday, a grand feast is being organised by the family for around 30,000 people. This will be Neeraj's first visit to his hometown after he won the coveted medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

The whole village and distant relatives have been invited for the grand celebration.

"He will be receiving a grand welcome, I have prepared 'churma' for him. We will keep his gold medal in the temple, as it is after the blessings of God that he has reached these heights. I am looking forward to his arrival," says Neeraj's mother Saroj Devi.

Another distant relative of Neeraj said: "We have made all the preparations. The welcome will be grand and all the relatives and the whole village is invited. The gold medal will be kept in the temple and some rituals will be performed. Food preparations for around 25 to 30 thousand people have been done which needed manpower of about 150 people. The whole village is in a festive mood since the day he has won the medal."

Neeraj created history at the Tokyo Olympics as he became the first athlete from the country to win a medal in track and field in the showpiece event. He threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m to pick the yellow metal at the Games.

Neeraj's historic golden throw in the Olympics has been listed as one of the 10 magical moments of athletics (track and field) in the Tokyo Olympics by World Athletics.

He has been felicitated by the Indian Government, the Sports Ministry, the Athletic Federation of India as well as the Indian Army post his return.