India’s reigning Olympic champion in javelin throw, Neeraj Chopra will have a special supporter in the stands during his competition round at the Paris Games on August 8.
Fayis Asraf Ali, an avid Neeraj fan, has pedalled more than 22,000 kms over two years crisscrossing 30 countries to reach Paris in his bid to watch the Indian athletics superstar.
Ali, a cyclist from Kerala’s Calicut, reached the ‘City of Love’ on the invitation of Neeraj, whom he first met in Budapest during the World Championships last year.At the event, Neeraj has secured a historic gold to become India’s first-ever world champion in athletics.
In Paris, Ali will soon be meeting his sporting idol after putting in a personal request through Indian Olympic Association‘s (IOA) president PT Usha‘s office. Ali has set off from Calicut on his Surly bicycle – costing Rs 2.5 lakh – with a mission to spread peace and harmony from India to London.
During one of his several stopovers in Budapest, he got to know about Neeraj competing at the Worlds and went to watch the finals, after which the two met and spoke briefly.
“I got a few minutes to talk to Neeraj and he told me since ‘you are going to London, come to Paris for the Olympics as well’. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to see him again in Paris so I altered my plan and procured the required visa and cycled to the UK before ending my journey in Paris,” said Ali, an engineer by profession. He ended his cycling journey at the ‘India House’ in Paris on Monday.
“I am excited to meet him again. I am here to see him create history again,” he added. Ali said he didn’t face any problems arranging for his visa to Paris. “I flew to Kerala to arrange the visa and, for that, I halted my trip for some days. Visa is all you need to cross the border, a cyclist does not need any other documentation.”
Ali had first set out on his cycling expedition on August 7, 2019 and had reached Singapore on November 21 after clocking 8000 kms across seven countries.
Fayis Asraf Ali, an avid Neeraj fan, has pedalled more than 22,000 kms over two years crisscrossing 30 countries to reach Paris in his bid to watch the Indian athletics superstar.
Ali, a cyclist from Kerala’s Calicut, reached the ‘City of Love’ on the invitation of Neeraj, whom he first met in Budapest during the World Championships last year.At the event, Neeraj has secured a historic gold to become India’s first-ever world champion in athletics.
In Paris, Ali will soon be meeting his sporting idol after putting in a personal request through Indian Olympic Association‘s (IOA) president PT Usha‘s office. Ali has set off from Calicut on his Surly bicycle – costing Rs 2.5 lakh – with a mission to spread peace and harmony from India to London.
During one of his several stopovers in Budapest, he got to know about Neeraj competing at the Worlds and went to watch the finals, after which the two met and spoke briefly.
“I got a few minutes to talk to Neeraj and he told me since ‘you are going to London, come to Paris for the Olympics as well’. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to see him again in Paris so I altered my plan and procured the required visa and cycled to the UK before ending my journey in Paris,” said Ali, an engineer by profession. He ended his cycling journey at the ‘India House’ in Paris on Monday.
“I am excited to meet him again. I am here to see him create history again,” he added. Ali said he didn’t face any problems arranging for his visa to Paris. “I flew to Kerala to arrange the visa and, for that, I halted my trip for some days. Visa is all you need to cross the border, a cyclist does not need any other documentation.”
Ali had first set out on his cycling expedition on August 7, 2019 and had reached Singapore on November 21 after clocking 8000 kms across seven countries.
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