New Delhi: India’s star athlete Neeraj Chopra has been conferred with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Defence in the Gazette of India, a weekly authorised journal of the Government of India, on Wednesday. 

Chopra became India's most successful individual Olympian after he claimed a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the javelin throw, marking his second medal at the Games after his historic gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Chopra became the first Indian track and field athlete to win a gold medal in Tokyo. He ended his 2024 season with a second-place finish in the prestigious Diamond League Final in Brussels.

"No 3 (E) dated 9 May 2025 in exercise of the powers conferred by Para 31 of the Territorial Army Regulations, 1948, the president is pleased to confer Honorary Rank of Lieutenant Colonel in Territorial Army on Ex-Sub Maj Neeraj Chopra, PVSM, Padma Shri, VSM, Village & Post Office Khandra, Panipat, Haryana with effect from 16 April, 2025," the Gazette of India read.

Neeraj was earlier enrolled as a Junior Commissioned Officer in the rank of Naib Subedar in the Indian Army on August 26, 2016, before being promoted to Subedar in 2021 after his heroics in Tokyo.

Like the gold medallist, there are a few more individual medallists at the quadrennial Games who hold ranks in the Indian Army. Abhinav Bindra, who made history in the Beijing 2008 Olympics by becoming the first Indian to win an individual gold medal, was also conferred with the honour of being a Lt. Colonel, and shooter Vijay Kumar was made an honorary Captain after winning a silver medal in 2012.

One of the most famous athletes to receive the honour has been Mahendra Singh Dhoni. After guiding India to major tournament victories, including the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup, he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army in 2011.

(IANS)