Olympic javelin champ Neeraj Chopra to face best throwers in the world for the first time on home ground | Sport-others News

In what could be Tokyo Olympics gold medall Neeraj Chopra’s first competition at home against the world’s top javelin throwers, Panchkula’s Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex will host the best in the business for a World Athletics (WA) Category A event on May 24.
The one-day tournament has been chrened Neeraj Chopra Classic, and was finalised after months of discussions between WA and Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
Chopra will be competing in India after a gap of 374 days with his last competition at home being the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar in May 2024.
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“I can confirm the Neeraj Chopra Classic, a Category A World Athletics competition, featuring Neeraj Chopra and world’s other top javelin throwers, will take place on May 24 at Panchkula,” AFI president Bahadur Singh Sagootold The Indian Express. “The other formalities of the competition will be finalised in the coming days.”
Chopra, who won his second Olympic medal – a silver – at the Paris Games, last competed at the Diamond League in Brussels in September, finishing second silver with a best throw of 87.86m.
The athletics stadium at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, which will host the Neeraj Chopra Classic, a category A World Athletics event, on May 24. Nitin Sharma
The Haryana athlete, who had been struggling with an adductor niggle in his groin for the last one year, had started his pre-season training in South Africa in November. He spent 31 days at Potchefstroom before his wedding at Solan in Himachal Pradesh on January 16. He has been training under three-time Olympic and world champion and the current world record holder Jan Zelezny for the last few weeks. Chopra is expected to compete at the Doha Diamond League on May 16 before coming for the Panchkula event. ‘Neeraj has trained at Panchkula for most part of his junior career and has always wanted to compete in a World Athletics event on his home ground. Competing against the world’s best javelin throwers at Panchkula will be a huge occasion for Indian athletics and naming a WA event after the Olympic champion will be a big motivating factor for up-and-coming youngsters,” Sagoo said.
In January, Chopra had talked about his ambition to have an elite event in his own country.Story continues below this ad
“It has been a longstanding dream of mine to organise and bring a world-class javelin competition to India. With the help of JSW Sports and AFI, we are making this happen. I am sure that my fellow athletes and fans in India will create an experience that will be spoken about for a long time,” he had said.
WA president Sebastian Coe had also backed the upcoming event.
“World Athletics is delighted to support this new event that will allow fans in India to see their heroes on home soil,” the double Olympic 1500m champion had stated in January.

Nitin Sharma is an Assant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.

An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin’s interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. … Read More

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