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HomeHoaXposedNaseem Ahmad isn't Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra's coach now. He coached...

Naseem Ahmad isn’t Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra’s coach now. He coached him till 2016

Naseem Ahmad coached Neeraj Chopra from 2011 to 2016, when the latter was a teenager. At present, Chopra is coached by Germans Klaus Bartonietz and Uwe Hohn.

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New Delhi: In a bid to call out anti-Muslim bigotry, several politicians and journalists with verified accounts lauded the contribution of coach Naseem Ahmad towards athlete Neeraj Chopra’s historic Gold in javelin throwing at the just-concluded Tokyo Olympics on social media. However, they mistakenly referred to Ahmad as Chopra’s current coach instead of his former coach.

One among them is Congress leader Dr Udit Raj, who tweeted Sunday: “Bhakts, gold medalist Neeraj Chopra’s coach has turned out to be a Muslim — Naseem Ahmad. What will you do now?”

The tweet has been liked over 4,000 times.

Several other Congress leaders also put out similar tweets. Congress’ National Media Panelist Surendra Rajput uploaded a photo of Ahmad and Chopra and said that Neeraj Chopra’s coach is named Naseem Ahmad.

The same photo was also posted by Samajwadi Party youth leader Anees Raja, who congratulated both Ahmad and Chopra on the achievement.

Several other journalists like Wasiuddin Siddiqui, the Daman & Diu Congress Sevadal and Puneet Kumar Singh also referred to Ahmad as Chopra’s current coach.

Fact check

While Naseem Ahmad has coached Chopra in the past, the javelin thrower has said that he has been coached by German Klaus Bartonietz since 2019. Furthermore, German javelin throwing legend and India’s javelin team coach Uwe Hohn had also coached him in 2018.

“I would like to thank Uwe sir and Klaus sir for putting their heart into training me, which has resulted in the Olympic gold,” Chopra told The Hindu in an interview.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Sunday also thanked Bartonietz on Twitter for his coaching, and uploaded a video message from the coach.

However, Ahmad also played an important role in Neeraj Chopra’s development as an athlete, according to a report in The Indian Express.

In 2011, Ahmad and coach Jasveer Singh began training Chopra and overseeing his progress at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, when Chopra was 13 years old.

Chopra continued his training at the complex until 2016 after which he was trained by various coaches at the national camp.

Following Chopra’s win, a video of Ahmad’s celebrations in Panchkula also made the rounds on Twitter.

In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer


Also read: AAP did not put up Kejriwal banner on govt installing dustbins in Kirti Nagar Industrial Area


 

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