Stadium at Pune’s Army Sports Institute to be named after Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra

A stadium at the Pune-based Army Sports Institute (ASI) will be named after Tokyo Olympics gold medalist in Javelin throw, Subedar Neeraj Chopra, at a ceremony which will be presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the institute on August 23. The defence minister will also felicitate 16 Olympians of the Indian Army on the occasion.

Chopra (23), who was inducted into the Indian Army in the sports quota in 2016 at the rank of Naib Subedar as a teenager, received a sizable chunk of his coaching, training and administrative support at the ASI. Established in 2001 as the premier sports training institute of the Indian Army under Mission Olympic programme, ASI is a multi-disciplinary sports training institute. It imparts training in seven fields: archery, athletics, boxing, diving, wrestling, fencing and weightlifting.

Singh will be on a one-day visit to Pune on August 23, when he will preside over functions at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technologies (DIAT) and the ASI. Officials said that during the ceremony at the ASI, Singh will felicitate 16 Olympians from the Indian Army who competed at Tokyo Olympics. In his presence, the sports stadium of the ASI will be named ‘Neeraj Chopra Army Sports Stadium, Pune Cantonment,’ officials said.

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Army chief General M M Naravane and Southern Army Commander Lt Gen J S Nain will also be present for the ceremony.

At DIAT, Rajnath Singh will attend the general body meeting of the institute, inaugurate a new building and interact with faculty and students. He will be accompanied by Army Chief General Naravane and DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy.