‘Honour to gift our golden athlete an XUV 700’: Anand Mahindra’s special present to Neeraj Chopra for winning gold

7 August 2021 – the date that will be etched in golden letters in the history of Indian athletics. The credit goes to javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics with his powerful 87.58m throw, single-handedly outfoxing his opponents.

Chopra is now the second Indian athlete after shooter Abhinav Bindra to have won an individual gold medal at the Olympic games. His feat certainly ended India’s 121-year-old wait for an Olympic medal in athletics.

Each and every Indian citizen watching Neeraj aim for gold would have surely erupted in joy. People showered praise on social media as the 23-year-old boy from Haryana did the unexpected in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra Group, made an announcement that he would gift Neeraj an XUV 700 for his remarkable achievement.

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A Twitter user asked Anand Mahindra “Xuv700 for him (Neeraj Chopra).” In reply, the Mahindra group chairman agreed to it and stated that it would be a personal gift from him to India’s ‘Golden Athlete’. Not just this, but he even tagged two of his company officials to keep the car ready for the gold medallist.

“Yes indeed. It will be my personal privilege & honour to gift our Golden Athlete an XUV 7OO. @rajesh664 @vijaynakra. Keep one ready for him please,” Anand Mahindra tweeted.

While Neeraj won the gold, Czech Republic throwers Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m) and Vitezslav Vesely (85.44m) took the silver and bronze respectively. He came into the final as a medal contender after topping the qualification round on Wednesday with a stunning first-round throw of 86.59m.

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Just like in the qualification round three days back, Chopra began with a bang by sending the spear to a distance of 87.03m and then improved it to 87.58m, his best of the day which none in the field could match.

His third throw was a poor 76.76m, he then fouled his next two attempts before a final effort of 84.24m.

(With Agency Inputs)