Bengaluru: Neeraj Chopra, enthralled the home crowd with yet another scintillating performance to win the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025.
It was India’s first ever World Athletics-sanctioned Gold-level meet. Neeraj won the competition with a best throw of 86.18m at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Saturday. The 27-year-old cleared the distance of 86.18m in his third attempt, responding to the pressure built on him by Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage, who had recorded a distance of 84.34m to take the lead.
The ‘Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025’ was jointly organised by Neeraj along with JSW Sports. A media statement said, "2015 World Champion Julius Yego of Kenya bagged the silver medal with a best throw of 84.51m while Pathirage took home the bronze medal."
Chopra, who had cleared the 90m mark at the Doha Diamond League earlier this year, was an undisputed favourite on the home turf. But the 27-year-old fouled on his first attempt while Yego took the lead with a throw of 79.97m. But the home favourite responded with a throw of 82.99m in the second attempt to take the lead.
However, Pathirage seemed determined to crash the party with a throw of 84.34m in his third attempt. However, Chopra responded in style as he began celebrating even before the javelin hit the ground and the scoreboard flashed a distance of 86.18m.
Apart from Chopra, India’s Sachin Yadav (82.33m) and Yashvir Singh (79.65m) also made it to the last eight stage. Yadav was even in medal contention till Yego came up with his season-best throw in the fourth attempt to leapfrog to second spot. Chopra insisted that he wasn’t happy with the distance but said he was satisfied considering the windy conditions.
“I was expecting a good result but the wind of quite heavy and I am happy to win. It was mentally quite tough for me as I knew people expected me to win. I had come here after participating in two events and hence I was under pressure to perform in front of the home crowd,”he added.
