The inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic (NC Classic) javelin throw competition is set to be held at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Haryana, on May 24, the World Athletics confirmed, according to Olympics.com.
Scheduled as the NC Classic, the one-day javelin throw event has been classified as a World Athletics ‘A’ category event, equating to a Continental Tour Gold-level competition in ranking points.
The Continental Tour is a second second-tier global athletics series behind the Diamond League. It was launched in 2020 as the successor to the World Challenge series and features four tiers, including gold, silver, bronze and challenger.
The tournament, headlined by India’s ace javelin thrower, Neeraj Chopra, is expected to host top male and female javelin throwers from around the world to compete in India for the first time.
Former Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla had previously stated that the invitational tournament would feature the world’s top 10 javelin throwers in the men’s and women’s categories.
Neeraj is keen to make the event an annual fixture in the world athletics calendar, with an eye on adding more track and field disciplines to the meeting.
“It has been a longstanding dream of mine to organise and bring a world-class javelin competition to India. I am sure that my fellow athletes and the fans in India will both create an experience that will be spoken about for a long time. I am excited to see how big we can make this,” Neeraj Chopra said earlier this year.
Neeraj was last seen in action on Indian soil in 2024 at the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition in Bhubaneswar last year. In his build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, he threw his javelin 82.27 m.
In the Summer Games, the 27-year-old fell short of retaining his gold medal, but he delivered a remarkable performance, finishing with a best throw of 89.45 meters to settle for silver. Despite a strong performance on his second attempt, he struggled with four consecutive foul throws, which prevented him from winning gold.
