PARIS: A phone call woke me up early in the morning. This was in July of 2016. "You must meet this guy. He is tall, he is good looking, he is humble. Above all, he is your future athletics superstar. Javelin phekta hai. It will be a great photo-op too." Neeraj Chopra? Javelin? The name didn't ring a bell. Sounded like a PR pitch. We let that pass.
A few days later, this Chopra boy won the World junior javelin gold in Poland with a huge throw of 86.48m. It was a junior world record to boot. Any elite thrower would be proud of that in a Diamond League competition. He was just 18.
