It took a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for Indians to recognise the hard work put in by javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra. Since the podium finish, the athlete has become India's poster boy.
However, while Neeraj Chopra was a star in the making, the Haryana athlete was unabashedly proud of his birth roots and preferred to communicate in Hindi over English.
So now, an old video from 2018 is doing the rounds on social media. It was from a literary festival, where the athlete was a guest of honour alongside Bollywood actor Rahul Bose. While taking questions from the audience, one of the attendees wanted to ask him about how he deals with setbacks in his sporting career.
However, his first instinct was to ask the question in English. "I would like to ask you a question that at times you'd get frustrated because of that..." he began to talk but was paused when the athlete - trying not to offend anyone - asked him if he knew Hindi.
"Bhai, hello, Hindi aati hai aapko? Hindi mein poochh lo yaar (Brother, do you know Hindi? Ask the question in Hindi)," he asked the attendee with a big smile on his face. The audience laughed and clapped as well.
Actor Rahul Bose, who was sitting alongside him offered to help him with his translation needed, but Neeraj Chopra's response worked and the attendee asked his question again in Hindi.
"Jab aap ek level ke upar nahi jaa paate apne sport mein toh uss time ki frustration ko aap kaise mitate ho?" the attendee asked.
"Haan, bilkul bhai, aisa hota hai ki humara performance atak jaata hai aur hum kitni bhi training karlein… injury hoti hai ek khiladi ke life mein jo sabse zada rukawat leke aati hai. Toh hum yahi koshish karte hein ki injury aane de kyunki injury ek baar aajati hai toh wohi performance wapas laane ke lie humme do saal bhi lag sakte hein," Neeraj had said back then.
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Meanwhile, Neeraj Chopra is enjoying all the love and appreciation he is receiving since he achieved the impossible by winning the Tokyo Olympics gold medal in a track-and-field event.
The 23-year-old is a sensation among the Bollywood celebs as well and among them was actor Kiara Advani. During a recent promotional event for their film, 'Shershaah', Sidharth Malhotra, and Kiara Advani sat down for an interview with Sports Yaari.
During the interview, both Kiara and Sidharth heaped praised on Neeraj Chopra's outstanding Olympic gold medal win.
Sidharth said, "He is the real 'Shershaah' who has made the country proud," meanwhile, Kiara Advani said, "I think he (Neeraj Chopra) is not just a national crush but the world’s crush right now."
