As Neeraj Chopra walked into the Durbar Hall of a five-star property in Chanakyapuri in New Delhi, he glanced at the front row. And as soon as he spotted his parents — Satish and Saroj Devi — sitting there, he broke into a smile. His uncle Bhim was also present.

That very brief interaction, just before the felicitation by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) started, showed how grounded this 23-year-old, who has earned India the first-ever medal in Olympics track and field, is.

Kamalpreet Kaur (finished sixth in the women’s discus throw), Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase) and the men’s 4x400m relay quartet of Mohammed Anas Yahiya, Rajiv Arokia, Noah Tom Nirmal and Amoj Jacob (set an Asian record) were also felicitated.

As Neeraj took the stage with his fellow-Olympians and officials of the AFI on Tuesday morning, it became obvious that the young man was well aware of his epoch-making feat, but was hungry for even more.

“I have already won gold in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games and now I have an Olympic gold. So my next target is winning gold at the World Championships,” Neeraj said, sharing the dais with Anju Bobby George.

Anju is the only Indian athlete to have ever won a medal at the World Championships — the long jump bronze in the 2003 Paris edition. As senior vice-president of the AFI now, she thanked Neeraj for bringing glory to the country.

Neeraj said: “The World Championships is as big a competition and sometimes tougher than the Olympics. I am not going to be content with this Olympic gold. I would like to do even better and win gold again in the Asian Games, the CWG and the Olympics.

“That is the medal (World Championships) which is with Anju madam and I want to win it.”

The World Championships will be held in Eugene, Oregon, in the US from July 15-24, 2022.

Neeraj said that his inclusion in the national camp by AFI in 2015 (at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala) despite finishing fifth during the National Games in Kerala was a turning point in his career.

At the camp, Neeraj first trained under the late Australian coach Gary Calvert, then former world record-holder in javelin Germany’s Uwe Hohn before switching to train under bio-mechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz.

“I won gold in the 2018 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games under Hohn sir. But his style of training was different. I told him that I wanted to work with Klaus sir.

“His (Klaus) training plans suited me.”

German Bartonietz was with Neeraj in Tokyo when he won the gold medal.

Neeraj admitted that it took him some time to realise that he had indeed won an Olympics gold medal. “I was asking myself whether it was a dream.,” he smiled.

Neeraj is now focused on improving his technique. “The 90m mark is my dream. I wanted to do it this year but couldn’t. I have to change the angle of my throw and work on some techniques,” he said.

National Javelin Day

August 7, the day Neeraj won the gold in Tokyo, will be celebrated as National Javelin Day, AFI’s planning commission chairman Lalit Bhanot said.