Do you know it was BCCI, who had made a winning bid of Rs 1.5 crore for Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra’s javelin when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s collection of mementos was e-auction in 2021 , BCCI official told PTI.
Neeraj Chopra had present one of his javelins to PM Modi when Prime Minister host Indian athletes after the Tokyo Games.
The javelin was part of many items that were present during the e-auction, the proceeds of which went to ‘Namami Gange Programme’.
‘Namami Gange Programme’, launch in 2014, integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river.
The auction was organise between September and October in 2021.
Senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity :
“BCCI had made the winning bid for Neeraj’s javelin. But we also bid for a couple of other collectibles. It (Namami Gange) is a noble cause and the office bearers in BCCI felt that as one of the premier sporting bodies in the country, we had a duty towards the nation,”.
“As an organisation we are proud that we have a sporting good of one of India’s greatest athletes,”.
The BCCI had also contribute Rs 51 crore to PM Cares fund during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
BCCI also bought an angavastra, autographed by the Indian Paralympic contingent for Rs 1 crore.
Neeraj Chopra’s javelin that was bought by BCCI fetch the highest bid value, fencer Bhavani Devi’s sword fetch Rs 1.25 crore and Paralympic champion javelin thrower Sumit Antil’s javelin was bought for Rs 1.002 crore by other bidders.
Lovlina Borgohain’s boxing gloves were bought for Rs 91 lakh.
During the auction in 2021, 1348 mementos including sports collectibles were put in for the e-auction and a total of 8600 bids were receive.
As Neeraj Chopra had donate the javelin he use to win the Olympic gold in Tokyo, to the Lausanne base Olympic museum.
This was confirm by the official twitter handle for the Games.
