Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, on Tuesday, was forced to leave a welcome ceremony midway due to exhaustion and “slight” fever. Chopra has been attending various felicitation functions in Delhi and finally returned home at his native Khandra village, around 15 km from Panipat, on Tuesday to a rousing reception.
The 23-year-old Chopra, who has been on a busy schedule since his return to India after winning India’s first Olympic medal in athletics at the recently-concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A source close to Chopra told PTI that the star athlete should be fine after a good rest and that he left the function as a precautionary measure.
“A lot of people turned up and he reached the venue of the welcome function near his village on a cavalcade. It took time to reach the venue of the function,” news agency PTI quoted the source as saying.
“But midway into the function he was feeling exhausted and started having slight fever. So, he left the function and had taken rest at a house nearby,” the source said.
“There are some rumours that he has been taken to a hospital. It is not like that. He is all right, it’s not a serious issue. Basically, he is feeling exhausted due to attending many functions non-stop after arrival from Tokyo. He is taking rest at a place not very far from his house,” the source added.
The source, talking about why the athlete has not gone home, said: “He will go home, that is for sure, but he does not want a frenzy from people, including the media.”
After being felicitated by the sports ministry on arriving in India, he attended another function the next day that was organised by the Athletics Federation of India.
Following this, the athlete developed a high fever and missed the felicitation functions organised by the Punjab and Haryana governments on Thursday and Friday.
He, however, made it to the high tea hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind for the Indian Olympic contingent.
On Sunday, Chopra was among the Tokyo Olympians who attended the Independence Day function at the Red Fort.
