Neeraj Chopra was identified young and trained by Army, says official

Army to begin training women sportswomen within this year.

Neeraj Chopra was identified many years back for his exceptional talent by then national coach for javelin Subedar Kashinath and then recruited into the Army in 2016, said an officer from the Mission Olympics Wing and Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune. The Army is also set to start training sportswomen in national sports at ASI within this year. “Subedar Kashinath was the national coach for javelin from 2013 to 2018 and a medal winner himself. He informed the ASI that there is a boy who is throwing the javelin over 80m. He was then approached and recruited into the Army,” the officer said. It’s not just the gold medal by Subedar Chopra at the Tokyo Olympics but 16 of the sportspersons from the Indian contingent were from the ASI. Subedar Chopra on Tuesday met Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane. He was recruited in the 4 Rajputana Rifles as a direct entry Naib Subedar on May 15, 2016 after which he was selected for training at the Mission Olympics Wing and the ASI.