Neeraj Chopra wins the Gold Medal in the first NC Classic held in Bengaluru

New Delhi (India) July 6: Neeraj Chopra, a double Olympic medallist for India won the first Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, adding another feather to his hat. In Round 3, Neeraj's 86.18-meter effort won the competition. Kenya's Julius Yego secured the second position and Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage bagged the third position.

The Indian didn't have the best start. In his first try, he crossed the 80-meter mark but he stumbled over the throwing line which made it invalid. From Round 2 onwards, he raised the bar, seized pole position and maintained it until the end of the show. It began with his 82.99-meter throw in Round 2 which was followed by his best throw of the night in Round 3.

Neeraj touched 84.07 meters in Round 5 and 80.10 meters in Round 6 for the remaining three throws. Neeraj committed his second foul in round four and surprisingly, out of the eight competitors still competing, only Kenya's Julius Yego made a successful attempt.

Yego, the silver medallist from the 2016 Olympics had finished second in the javelin with a throw of 84.51 meters, which was both his season-best and his final distance. Rumesh Pathirage of Sri Lanka came in third place after him.

Neeraj had stated before the competition began that he was not under any pressure and that his main goal was still to give it his all. Some of the biggest names in the world competed in the event, which was held in Bengaluru, India.

Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and JSW Sports co-organized the event. Initially, it was supposed to happen in Panchkula, in Neeraj's native state of Haryana. But it was moved to Bengaluru, to the Sree Kanteerava Stadium belonging to JSW Sports, an Indian Super League (ISL) team.

Arshad Nadeem, the winner of the Paris Olympics is not participating in the tournament. Neeraj Chopra released a statement earlier this year regarding the involvement of the Pakistani javelin thrower after the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam that claimed the lives of 26 tourists.

The event received 'gold status' from World Athletics, which meant it was included in the world's best track and field events. Luiz Mauricio da Silva (Brazil), Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka), Thomas Roehler (Germany), Sachin Yadav (India), Sahil Silwal (India), Rohit Yadav (India), Yashvir Singh (India), Curtis Thompson (USA), Martin Konecny (Czech), Julius Yego (Kenya), and Cyprian Mrzyglod (Poland) were the competitors in the tournament.

Aadrika Tayal