Thomas Rohler, Anderson Peters, Julius Yego among other top stars set to compete at Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025
Sports: Headlined by double Olympic medallist, the event will see elite male and female javelin throwers from around the world compete in India for the first time
Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra spilled the beans on the names of few international stars who are set to headline the upcoming Neeraj Chopra Classic Javelin meet, scheduled for May 24 in Bengaluru at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Pencilled in as the NC Classic, the one-day javelin throw meet is classified as a World Athletics ‘A’ category event, equating to a Continental Tour Gold-level competition in ranking points.
Headlined by double Olympic medallist, the event will see elite male and female javelin throwers from around the world compete in India for the first time.
Addressing the media in a virtual press meet in regards to the upcoming international javelin event named after him 'Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025', the reigning world champion revealed that Paris Olympic bronze medallist and the two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, along with Rio Olympic silver medallist and former world champion Julius Yego of Kenya are the few javelin stars who will visit India for the one-day javelin meet.
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Interestingly, Peters won the Diamond League finale in Brussels last year, pushing Neeraj Chopra to another second-placed finish."Anderson Peters (Grenada), Julius Yego (Kenya), Curtis Thompson (America), Thomas Rohler are among the international stars who are going to participate in the 'Neeraj Chopra Claasic' Javelin throw meet in Bengaluru. These are the few names and rest we will reveal later. There will be Indian stars as well. I spoke to Rohit Yadav as well," Chopra said.
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'I have sent invitation to Arshad'
The NC Classic 2025 will serve as a crucial qualification event for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13 to 21, though Neeraj, the reigning world champion, has already secured his spot.
"We are trying at least 4-5 Indians to compete. It's a gold-level event, which will give them good ranking points to qualify for the World Championships," he added.
When asked about the participation of the reigning Olympic champion, Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, the 27-year-old Indian athletics star said, "I have sent invitation to Arshad and he said he will get back to me after discussing with his coach. As of now he is yet to confirm participation," Chopra shared.
Chopra further confirmed that the event, which was initially planned to take place in his native state, Haryana, at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, is now relocated to Bengaluru's Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Revealing the reason behind the change of venue, the javelin star said, "The stadium in Haryana does not have adequate lighting required for the broadcasting. It was 600 lux (in Tau Devi Lal Stadium) but we needed more. There was not enough time to get it fixed on time."
He added, "I spoke to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he gave us quite a positive response.". The event will be jointly organised by Neeraj Chopra and JSW Sports in collaboration with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics.
Meanwhile, Neeraj Chopraalso confirmed that he will begin his 2025 season at theDoha Diamond Leagueon May 16. The prestigious event will take place at the Qatar Sports Club in the capital city of Doha.
