India’s Neeraj Chopra in motion throughout the males’s javelin on June 24, 2025. — Reuters Â
Olympic javelin star Neeraj Chopra headlined what was billed as India’s inaugural world-class area competitors on Saturday, dwelling as much as his aim of elevating home expertise whereas additionally strolling away with one other gold medal.
Chopra, who gained gold on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and silver on the 2024 Paris Video games, triumphed with a throw of 86.18 meters on the 12-athlete javelin Neeraj Chopra Basic occasion.
He completed forward 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 advised reporters after successful the competitors.
The occasion drew greater than 14,500 spectators — a determine that delighted Chopra, who has lengthy championed higher public assist for monitor and area occasions.
“We really wanted people to come and watch track and field,” stated Chopra, who has single-handedly raised curiosity for athletics in India and has greater than 9 million Instagram followers.
“I always request people to come to the stadiums to cheer athletes as they work really hard.
“Observe and area is likely one of the hardest sporting occasions. I request folks to return and watch nationals as nicely… as a result of our sport can solely develop when folks 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 now been doing rather well within the sport. They (Indian athletes) had been fairly pleased to get a platform to play alongside the world champions,” the 27-year-old said.
“We additionally plan so as to add extra occasions to this competitors going ahead, which can assist the Indian athletes extra.”
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 may have carried out higher however he twisted his ankle in his opening throw. Total, it was good. They are going to hopefully do nicely sooner or later. They’re juniors and have time on their hand so will certainly do higher,” Chopra stated.
