On Saturday, Neeraj Chopra dedicated his Olympic gold to legendry sprinter Milkha Singh, who died of Covid in June. “Milkha Singh wanted to hear the national anthem in a stadium. He is no longer with us, but his dream has been fulfilled,” Chopra said while dedicating his gold to the iconic sprinter who had finished fourth in the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Reacting to it, Milkha Singh’s son and ace golfer Jeev Milkha Singh said his family was eternally grateful for Chopra’s gesture. “Not only did you win us a first-ever athletics gold medal in the #OlympicGames, you even dedicated it to my father. The Milkha family is eternally grateful for this honour,” he wrote on Twitter.

Today, Chopra won the first gold for India at Tokyo Olympics. He threw his longest throw of 87.58m in the finals to claim the country’s first track-and-field medal. With this, he became only the second Indian to win an individual gold in the Olympics.

“Dad waited so many years for this to happen. His dream has finally come true with India’s first athletic gold. I am crying as I tweet this. And I am sure dad is crying up above. Thank you for making this happen,” Jeev posted soon after Chopra sealed gold for India.

After winning gold, Chopra said: “The most important thing for me this year was participating in international competitions…The 2-3 international competitions where I played helped me a lot. So I didn’t feel any pressure in Olympics, and I was able to focus on my performance”.