Athletics-India's javelin hero Chopra leverages star power as crowds flock to self-titled event

The Star

3 days ago

Athletics - Diamond League - Lausanne - Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland - August 22, 2024 India's Neeraj Chopra in action during the men's javelin throw REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Olympic javelin star Neeraj Chopra headlined what was billed as India's inaugural world-class field competition on Saturday, living up to his goal of elevating domestic talent while also walking away with another gold medal.
Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and silver at the 2024 Paris Games, triumphed with a throw of 86.18 meters at the 12-athlete javelin Neeraj Chopra Classic event.
He finished ahead of former world champion Julius Yego (silver) and Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage (bronze).
"The biggest target of the competition was to uplift the Indian athletes alongside the international ones. We got the best javelin throwers to this competition," Chopra told reporters after winning the competition.
The event drew more than 14,500 spectators - a figure that delighted Chopra, who has long championed greater public support for track and field events.
"We really wanted people to come and watch track and field," said Chopra, who has single-handedly raised interest for athletics in India and has more than nine million Instagram followers.
"I always request people to come to the stadiums to cheer athletes as they work really hard.
"Track and field is one of the hardest sporting events. I request people to come and watch nationals as well... because our sport can only grow when people will come and watch us."
The event featured three rounds with six attempts per participant, narrowing the field to eight after the initial round of three throws.
Among the five Indian competitors, three advanced to the second round including Chopra, outperforming international athletes such as former Olympic champion Thomas Rohler and the Czech Republic's Martin Konecny.
"We have been doing really well in the sport. They (Indian athletes) were quite happy to get a platform to play alongside the world champions," the 27-year-old said.
"We also plan to add more events to this competition going forward, which will help the Indian athletes more."
Among the Indian athletes, apart from Chopra, Asian Athletics Championships silver medallist Sachin Yadav performed well, recording his best throw of 82.33m in the third attempt.
"Sachin could have performed better but he twisted his ankle in his opening throw. Overall, it was good. They will hopefully do well in the future. They are juniors and have time on their hand so will surely do better," Chopra said.
(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in Bengaluru; Editing by Saad Sayeed)