Diagnosed with polio at 7, Neeraj Yadav, 42, won 3 Asiad golds before a life cut short

Neeraj Yadav (Image credit: Agencies)

Neeraj Yadav, one of India's leading para-athletes, was found dead at a flat on Tuesday night, leaving the para-sports community in shock. The 42-year-old, a three-time Asian Para Games gold medallist, allegedly died by suicide. He is suspected to have consumed poison.A postmortem examination was underway at Delhi’s GTB Hospital on Wednesday.

Who was Neeraj Yadav?

Born on February 10, 1984, Yadav hailed from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. He was diagnosed with post-polio residual paralysis at the age of seven after suffering neural damage.Despite the challenges, Yadav continued to pursue his sporting dreams. He played wheelchair tennis for around seven years, from 2005 to 2012, before turning to para-athletics in 2015.

His father was a wrestler and a volleyball player. Yadav got married in 2018.His first major success in athletics came at the 2015 Delhi State Athletics Meet. He won gold medals in the shot put, javelin and discus events, marking the beginning of his journey in the sport.

Asian record and three gold medals

Yadav made his mark internationally at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. Competing in the men's F55 javelin throw, he won gold with an Asian-record effort of 29.84 metres.

He returned to the top of the podium at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in 2023, winning gold medals in both the discus and javelin events. His discus gold came in the F54/55/56 class on October 24, while he won the men's F55 javelin title on October 28.

The two victories took his Asian Para Games gold medal tally to three.Yadav also won gold at the Para Athletics Grand Prix in Marrakech, Morocco, in September 2022, setting a new Indian national record.

Earlier, he had claimed silver medals in the men's F55 shot put and discus events at the Fazza Grand Prix in 2016.

Doping case

Yadav's career faced a major setback after an anti-doping case in 2023. The National Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended him after an out-of-competition sample collected in Bengaluru in October that year tested positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid.He later sought DNA testing of his sample through the anti-doping disciplinary process. The suspension prevented him from competing at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games.

Neeraj Yadav's Asian Para Games medal record