The 27-year old world champion in men’s javelin throw thanks fans, urges them to watch domestic meets with same enthusiasm.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2021 in Japan, Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal in the men’s javelin throw transformed the Indian athletics.
Four years later he started another historic chapter in Indian athletics—having huge fan followers on social media, Chopra proved to be a crowd puller on the home ground— to watch Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025 held on Saturday night under the Bengaluru sky.
Twelve javelin throwers from across the globe including Chopra himself battled to etch in their names in the inaugural edition of the single athletics event—javelin throw. Javelin has become quite popular since Chopra’s outstanding feat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. His consistent performance graph at the global level has given a big boost to Indian athletics.
Chopra won the Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025 title in front of nearly 15,000 passionate fans. They cheered and applauded every moment as the competition unfolded. Whenever Chopra came for his throws, the entire crowd got behind and egged him on. In the end, Chopra took a victory lap and thanked the fans.
“I never expected so many fans will turn up to watch. I know Bengaluru is passionate about sport and I have been here many times but to see this kind of support makes me feel so good and excited for future, ” said Chopra
“I felt bit of pressure because I wanted to do well in front of home crowd. Also, my family was watching me for the first time, so it was bit nervous. I am happy that I was able to live up to the expectations. “
“This is just the start. It was a great success. We would like to add more events in coming years. I thanks World Athletics giving it a Gold level category. I thank AFI, JSW, and sponsors to come together and put up this wonderful show. “
“This is just the start. We would like to bring more international athletics event. I want to tell fans to support our athletes in the same way even in domestic competition. I request fans to go and watch domestic competitions with same enthusiasm. Bring your children along. You will love the action. Athletics events are so thrilling to watch. Every athlete puts so much of hard work, so much goes behind, they deserve to be appreciated. We have some very talented athletes.”
The World Athletics Tour Gold Level event in Bengaluru was a good opportunity for leading Indian javelin throwers who are in a race to earn tickets to September 13 to 21 World Athletics Championships in Japan.
Uttar Pradesh promising javelin thrower Sachin Yadav is one of the strong contenders to book his passage to Worlds. On Saturday he finished fourth with 82.33m. Yadav’s season best is 85.16m recorded on his way to silver-medal at the Gumi Asian Athletics Championships held in South Korea in May.
Kenya’s Julius Yego (84.51m) and Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage (84.34m) finished second and third, respectively.
Chopra’s back-to-back Olympic medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games has further fuelled passion for javelin amongst the young generation. There are several upcoming javelin throwers, including Yashvir Singh, who have crossed the 80m mark in domestic competitions.
Chopra’s long-term plan to conduct more track and field events sanctioned by World Athletics would certainly give a fillip to Indian track and field.
