Neeraj Chopra, India's top javelin thrower and Olympic gold medallist, has been awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army.
According to The Gazette of India dated May 9, 2025, the appointment is effective from April 16, 2025. The official notice was issued by Major General GS Choudhry, Joint Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs, under Paragraph 31 of the 1948 Territorial Army Regulations.
Previously, Chopra served as a Naib Subedar after joining the Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer on August 26, 2016. He made history by winning India's first Olympic gold in athletics at the Tokyo Games, and a silver at the Paris Olympics.
In 2023, he became the first Indian to win a World Athletics Championship gold. Chopra will next compete in the Doha Diamond League on May 16, where he previously won gold in 2023 and silver in 2024.
He will also participate in the ORLEN Janusz Kusociński Memorial in Poland on May 23, after the postponement of the NC Classic in Bengaluru due to rising India-Pakistan tensions.
