Fresh from a win at the Paris leg of the Diamond League and Ostrava Golden Spike meet, the Panipat-born javelin thrower admitted he was a bit nervous performing in front of his home crowd, that included his family members at the venue.
File Photo: IANS
Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra claimed the gold medal at the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025, a World Athletics ‘A’ category meet, with a best effort of 86.18m at Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday.
Fresh from a win at the Paris leg of the Diamond League and Ostrava Golden Spike meet, the Panipat-born javelin thrower admitted he was a bit nervous performing in front of his home crowd, that included his family members at the venue.
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“I was a bit nervous, it was mentally tough for me as I knew all eyes were on me. It was different mentally as I returned after participating in two big events, and there was travel and I was also involved in preparation of the event,” Neeraj said after the win.
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“We are trying to bring more events and the AFI and World Athletics are trying to include more events in the coming years,” he added.
Kenya’s Julius Yego notched up his Season Best with a throw of 84.51m to finish second as Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage finished third with a best throw of 84.34m. India’s Sachin also made a late push with an 82.23m final effort but couldn’t break into the top-three.
Neeraj was slow off the blocks as he came up with a foul in his first attempt. He found his mojo back in the second, hurling the javelin to 82.99m and followed it up with his best effort in his third throw. His fourth attempt was also a foul, and the final attempts resulted in 84.07m and 82.22m, respectively.
Organised by the Athletics Federation of India, in association with JSW, the event brought together a world-class field of 12 elite javelin throwers from across the globe, including 2016 Olympic gold medallist Thomas Röhler (Germany), 2015 World Champion Julius Yego (Kenya), South American record-holder Luiz Mauricio da Silva (Brazil) and Pan Am Games winner Curtis Thompson (USA).
Neeraj, serving as both star and organiser, led the Indian field that included rising domestic talents like Sachin Yadav, Yashvir Singh, Sahil Silwal, and Rohit Yadav.
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