Javelin’s Olympic star, Neeraj Chopra, headed on what was charged as India’s world -class competition on Saturday, responding to his goal of lifting domestic talents while walking away with another gold medal.
Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and silver in the Paris 2024 games, triumphed with an 86.18-meter throw in 12-athlete Javelin Neeraj Chopra Classic.
He finished in front of former world champion Julius Yego (Silver) and Rumesh Pathirage of Sri Lanka (bronze).
“The biggest goal of the competition was to lift Indian athletes alongside internationals. We got Javelin’s best throwers in this competition,” Chopra told reporters after the competition.
The event gathered more than 14,500 spectators – a figure that thanked Chopra, which has long defended more public support for events and fields.
“We really wanted people to come and watch the track and the field,” said Chopra, who has increased the interest in sports in India and has more than nine million fans on Instagram.
“I always ask people to come to the stadiums to make athletes as they work very hard.
“Track and Field is one of the most difficult sporting events. I ask people to come and watch the nationals … because our sport can only grow when people come and watch us.”
The event included three rounds with six attempts per participant, limiting the field to eight after the initial round of three shots.
Among the five Indian competitors, three proceeded to the second round, including Chopra, surpassing international athletes such as former Olympic champion Thomas Rohler and Martin Konecny of the Czech Republic.
“We have done very well in the sport. They (Indian athletes) were very happy to get a platform to play alongside world champions,” the 27 -year -old said.
“We also plan to add more events to this contest that will move on, which will help Indian athletes more.”
Among the Indian athletes, in addition to Chopra, the silver championships of Asian sport Sachin Yadav performs well, recording his best throwing 82.33 million in the third attempt.
“Sachin could have done better, but turns his ankle into his inaugural throw. Overall, he was good. We hope they will do well in the future, he is juniors and they have time in their hand, so they will definitely do better,” Chopra said.
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