By Elias Makori
It’s heading to midnight in Paris and anti-doping officials are waiting patiently – perhaps now impatiently – for the last set of athletes to file through the media interviews area before they can shuttle them off to the testing centre.
India’s World and Olympic Javelin champion Neeraj Chopra is the last in the queue, happy to field media questions with the patience of an ox.
He comes through as I exercise similar patience, the last journalist in the line waiting to speak with the Indian Army Lieutenant Colonel who has thrust the sport of javelin into the limelight in sports-mad India.
This Saturday, he will be hosting the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025, India’s first ever exclusively javelin competition at Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
The competition starts at 7pm, Indian Standard Time, which will be 4.30pm, Kenyan time.
Gold Label status
The groundbreaking event is organized by Chopra, India’s first track and field athlete to win gold at the Olympic Games, alongside JSW Sports, is sanctioned by the Athletics Federation of India and already enjoys the prestigious World Athletics Gold Label status on its debut year.
Kenya’s 2015 world champion Julius Yego and Germany’s 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Röhler are also in the loaded field in Saturday’s showdown.
The star-studded, global cast also has Chopra, himself, Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka), 2025 Kip Keino Classic champion Luiz Mauricio Da Silva (Brazil), Curtis Thompson (USA), Martin Konečný (Czech Republic) and Cyprian Mrzygłód (Poland).
The Indian cast also boasts of Sachin Yadav, Rohit Yadav, Sahil Silwal and Yashvir Singh.
Yadav holds a personal best of 85.16m and is the Asian Championships silver medallist while 24-year-old Rohit, (83.40m PB) is back from surgery after winning silver at the Indian National Games (80.47m).
Silwal, also 24, has a PB of 81.81m and won gold at last year’s Indian National Inter-State Championships, and also won at the Winckelmann Games last year in Germany with a throw of 75.36m.
Popularize javelin throwing in India
Singh (PB 82.57m) broke Neeraj Chopra’s Under-20 Fed Cup meet record in 2021 with 78.68m and is among interesting prospects for India.
Chopra believes the Neeraj Chopra Classic will help popularize javelin throwing in India, a nation that’s mad about cricket and, to a large extent, field hockey.
“I’m very excited about the NC Classic and I want to say thank you to all the throwers, like Julius Yego, Thomas Röhler… They are great athletes and they are also supporting me with my competition,” Chopra told Pura Vida Sports Africa exclusively.
“This competition offers a big change for Indian athletics in general and also global javelin because a lot of athletes in India now follow javelin.”
Just how did Chopra dive into the javelin while his physique and power could have easily seen him turn out to, probably, be a fast bowler or top-order batsman in cricket?
“It (javelin) is something that I like…,” he responded.
“When I started the javelin, I was exposed to all the other sports – cricket, basketball, volleyball, football, hockey, everything! But I liked to throw the javelin after watching some athletes throwing…
“I didn’t want to go with everybody, but wanted to do something different, just like Julius Yego. Kenya is famous for long and middle-distance running, but Yego did something different. It’s the same with me.
All continents represented
“I feel really good starting javelin and I’m happy that my journey has been good and that I’m throwing with great athletes,” adds Chopra who is coached by Czech Republic’s world record holder Jan Zelezny (98.48m).
Chopra, who is attached to the Indian Territorial Army, and who hurled his personal best and Indian National Record 90.23 at this year’s Doha Diamond League meeting, has a lot of respect for Yego whom he refers to as “a great athlete and good man.”
Yego is excited about competing in India for the first time at the Classic.
“The place is good and the atmosphere is good. Chopra and his entire team of organisers have done everything possible to make it successful,” Yego told Pura Vida Sports Africa from Bengaluru on Friday.
“The athletes are very happy and are looking forward to tomorrow to feel the atmosphere of this javelin-only competition in a fully parked stadium.
“This is a new challenge and feeling… kudos to Chopra for coming up with such idea. The group of athletes here is very encouraging, all from different parts of the world.
“No one has been left behind as all the continents are represented by these athletes.
“Javelin throwing is now popular across the globe and we have made it happen. I’m happy to be part of the pioneers of the Chopra Classic and many more to come,” Yego with a PB of 92.72, the African record, also the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and 2014 Commonwealth champion, said.
Elias Makori, the founder and Managing Editor of Pura Vida Sports Africa, is a veteran sports journalist with over 30 years’ experience. Makori is a holder of a Masters in Sports Management degree from Barcelona’s Cruyff Institute and is also the 2012 World Athletics Journalist of the Year, three-time Kenya Sports Journalist of the Year and twice Africa Sports Media Personality of the Year.
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