TOISA 2021: Meet the nominees - Neeraj Chopra

The evaluation period for TOISA 2021 was from January 1 to December 31, 2021. All achievements during this time period were considered by the jury.

Meet one of the big contenders for TOISA 2021 Sportsperson of the Year award - Neeraj Chopra:Date of Birth: December 24, 1997Place of Birth: Khandra, HaryanaSport: Athletics (Javelin Throw)Current World Ranking: 2 (As on September 30, 2022)Major Achievements in 2021:Tokyo Olympics: 87.58m - GoldMeeting Cidade de Lisboa (Portugal): 83.18m - GoldFolksam Grand Prix (Sweden): 80.96m - GoldKuortane Games (Finland): 86.79m - BronzeFederation Cup (Patiala): 87.80m - GoldIndian Grand Prix 3 (Patiala): 88.07m - GoldNeeraj Chopra established himself as the poster boy of Indian athletics when he won a historic gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The 24-year-old javelin thrower scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic gold in a track and field event.

Overall he became only the second Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics after shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won the 10m rifle gold in the 2008 Beijing Games. Chopra came into limelight five years before the historic day in Tokyo, when he became junior world champion in 2016 with a world record throw of 86.48m, making him the first Indian to own an athletics world record.

He made big strides in the next few years en route to the Tokyo Games, winning gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. This made him one of the biggest prospects to end India's medal drought in track and field events at the Olympics, and he did not disappoint the 1.3 billion fans by finishing on top of the podium with a best throw of 87.58m.