NEW DELHI: India's first-ever winner of an Olympic athletics gold medal, Neeraj Chopra has now become the third person from the country to get nominated for the 2022 Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year.
Earlier former international cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and wrestler Vinesh Phogat were nominated for the esteemed honour of Laureus Award. Sachin won the award in 2020 in the category of the 'best sporting moment in the last 20 years' and Visnesh in 2019 got nominated in the category of Laureus World Sporting Comeback.
On Wednesday 2nd February, the Olympic gold medal-winning javelin thrower from India is selected as one of the 6 nominees for the prestigious award of Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year.
In such a great sports award nomination, Neeraj Chopra stands with other nominees that include sports star performers from different parts of the world namely Daniil Medvedev (Russian tennis player), Ariarne Titmus (swimmer), Emma Raducanu (British tennis player), Yulimar Rojas (26-year-old triple world jump record breaker) and Pedri (voted as a best young player at Ballon d'Or).
This year the nominees of the Laureus World Sports Award in 7 categories are selected by a panel of more than 1300 journalists and broadcasters from across the world.
In the year 2021, Neeraj Chopra made a record in Tokyo Olympics by becoming the second person from India who bagged the individual gold medal with a javelin throw of 87.58 m.
The achievement of the 28-year-old athlete in the Olympics last year has led him to gain much acclamation across the country and worldwide.
In the statement released by the Laureus Academy, Chopra expressed his happiness to get recognition in the wider sporting world for the success in Tokyo Olympics. He also mentioned his eventful journey from being a child coming from a rural village of India to choosing a sport for the purpose of getting fit and to standing at the top of the Olympic podium.
The Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year is awarded annually to teams and individual who is known for making breakthrough performance in the field of sports.
The results of the 2022 Laureus World Sports Award will be announced in the month of April this year after completing the voting process by the Laureus World Sports Academy which is regarded as the ultimate jury of sports in the world that consists of 71 sports legends of all time.
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