Felicitation ceremony for Paris champions; Neeraj’s proud father shares light moment

Everytime Neeraj Chopra would sweat hard to bag accolades for the country, his family would gain weight — thanks to sweets pouring in from every corner of his hometown as a congratulatory gesture.

In Chandigarh, Neeraj’s father Satish Kumar shared a light moment with the audience who were here to attend the JSW’s felicitation ceremony of the Paris Olympics medal winners. A proud father maintained that they have never seen such heaps of sweets and garlands before Neeraj won first ever Olympic gold for India in 2020 Tokyo Olympics, followed by a silver in the 2024 games.

While the champ would avoid eating sweets on his return, the family would try tasting every bit of it. “Yes, we all gained weight. It’s not about the sweets, but the love of people. However, we soon realised about gaining weight and finally we have to stop eating it,” laughed Satish, before admitting that there’s no dearth of love from Indian fans.

Not only Satish, but Manu Bhaker’s father Ram Kishan Bhaker also shared the struggle after Manu’s pistol malfunction during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualification round for the women’s 10m air pistol event. “Such incidents are rare. Had Manu been still thinking about that or listened to her critics, she couldn’t have won the two historic medals at the Paris Olympics. So, one has to be very clear about the aim and consider nothing in achieving that,” shared Ram.

Not only these two, but brother of Paris Olympics bronze medalist wrestler Aman Sehrawat also filled the wrestler’s absence.

Members of the Indian hockey team, which won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics were also present. Team captain Harampreet Singh, along with iconic goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, Mandeep Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Sumit and others also attended the event. “We are not contend with winning back to back bronze medals. Our target remains to win the Olympics gold in our career and create history for India,” said captain Haramanpreet Singh.

The JSW – which runs the Inspire Institute of Sport—felicitated the medal winners of the Indian contingent at the Paris Olympics 2024 in Chandigarh today. Each of the medal-winning players were presented with a new Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) by Parth Jindal, Managing Director of JSW Group of Companies.