BCCI owns Neeraj Chopra's javelin which won him the Tokyo Olympics 2020 gold medal

Last year after meeting PM Narendra Modi, Olympic medallists had gifted him their equipments as mementos. The collection were later auctioned off and the proceeds of it went to 'Namami Gange Programme'. The mementos also included Neeraj Chopra's javelin that won him the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. A year or so later, it has been revealed that it was BCCI which won the javelin with a winning bid for Rs 1.5 crore.  

'Namami Gange Programme', launched in 2014, integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river. The auction was held between September and October in 2021.

BCCI felicitated Tokyo Olympic medallists @Neeraj_chopra1 @LovlinaBorgohai @manpreetpawar07 during IPL opening game at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.@IPL pic.twitter.com/4ZUD82dZgR — Rahul Trehan (@imrahultrehan) March 26, 2022

"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," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

"As an organisation we are proud that we have a sporting good of one of India's greatest athletes," the official said. The BCCI had also contributed Rs 51 crore to PM Cares fund during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from Chopra's javelin, BCCI also bought an angavastra, autographed by the Indian Paralympic contingent for Rs 1 crore. While Chopra's javelin that was bought by BCCI fetched the highest bid value, fencer Bhavani Devi's sword fetched Rs 1.25 crore while 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 last year, 1348 mementos including sports collectibles were put in for the e-auction and a total of 8600 bids were received. Recently, Chopra had donated the javelin he used to win the Olympic gold in Tokyo, to the Lausanne based Olympic museum. It was confirmed by the official twitter handle for the Games.

With PTI inputs