On a windy and cool evening in Bengaluru, javelin throwers at the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic battled the conditions which didn’t make life easy for some of the very best. The red and white wind-indicator flags fluttered right through the six rounds. The 800-gram spear changed direction in the early rounds, some throws went to the right and some to the left. This was a night of smooth sailing through the air. There was a strong headwind but also a swirl across the stadium which changed direction often, Neeraj summed up the post competition which he won.
The throwers eventually came to grips with the breeze but the start was slow. None crossed the 80-metre mark in the first round. Julius Yego, the 2015 World Champion, took the early lead with 79.97 metres. Neeraj Chopra, the main man, tumbled over the line and fouled his first throw. The spectators gasped. However, he got up quickly but shook his head. A demanding five rounds lay ahead.
Chopra said he was too excited and wound up as a lot was at stake with him being the face of the NC Classic. His coach Jan Zelezny, Chopra said, asked him to relax. So did Yego.
Neeraj Chopra shows exactly why he’s a champion! 💥
Brings out his A game in the third round with a massive 86.18m, taking the lead back from Rumesh Pathirage. 🇮🇳The crowd is loving it! 🔥#NCClassic 2025 #GameOfThrows #CraftingVictories #NeerajChopra pic.twitter.com/QPvLFbbIgQ
— Inspire Institute of Sport (@IIS_Vijayanagar) July 5, 2025
Just before the competition started, the event organiser in him was tense because they were a few minutes behind schedule, Neeraj said. During the event, when the tiny robot cars were seemingly taking a little extra time to transport the javelins back, he was worried if the throwers were waiting too long.
In competition, he must have gotten tense after a dark horse emerged — Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage, a fast bowler turned javelin thrower, and a rising star from the subcontinent.
By the second round, the 80-metre throws began registering. Yego first with 80.07 metres, Pathirage’s 81.90m, Brazil’s Luiz Mauricio Da Silva with 80.31 metres. Neeraj, the last thrower among the 12, went into the provisional lead with 82.99 metres. The javelin’s trajectory was leftward as it crossed the 80-metre mark. He quickly went over to his coach Jan Zelezny, the world record holder, and looked at a tablet. One of the world’s best was having a word with the all-time great.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧! 🙌
We have our Top-3 of the the Inaugural #NeerajChopraClassic 👌#NeerajChopraClassic #JavelinThrow pic.twitter.com/wFcDNZVaom
— Neeraj Chopra Classic (@nc_classic) July 5, 2025
But he would have to fight back to retain the lead in the third round and eventually win gold.
Heated competition on cool evening
India’s Sachin Yadav, the Asian Championship silver medallist crossed the 80-metre mark in the third round but the real challenge came in the form of Pathirage. Immediately after Sachin, the Sri Lankan produced 84.34 metres, a big throw given the conditions, and took the lead. Neeraj was in second place now, and the competition had heated up on the cool evening.
Neeraj pumped himself up, with the javelin in one hand he clapped over his head to get the fans going. On release, the momentum made him touch the turf with his left hand but the distance was good. Even before the javelin landed he raised both his arms, a sign that it was a big one. Then, he kept his right arm raised and then turned around to face the spectators and roared. He and the entire stadium waited for half a minute before the screens flashed 86.18 metres. The fans came to see Neeraj put on a show and he delivered.
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In the fourth round, Yego found his best throw of the night, 84.51 metres in the fourth round, to move into second place. That was the last challenge to Neeraj’s top finish.
Neeraj registered two more 82-metre-plus throws after a foul in the fourth round. After his final throw, he bowed down with clasped hands to thank the crowd. In the VIP box was his family, even more reason to make it a special night.
Neeraj. Yego. Pathirage.
Three names, one moment etched in time.
The podium stood tall — just like their journeys.#NeerajChopraClassic #GameOfThrows pic.twitter.com/Zqk99r60HK— Neeraj Chopra Classic (@nc_classic) July 5, 2025
Camped in Bengaluru for over a week, donning the role of an organiser for his own event, Neeraj admitted there was ‘pressure’. “So many people came to support me and the competition is named after me. There was pressure on me to perform well. Julius and Rumesh pushed hard today. I felt that there would be a bigger throw today but the wind was also swirling about,” he said. “And there was a headwind so it was tough to throw. I was not happy with my run-up. But I felt good to have the trophy and the medal in my first competition. My biggest target was to make the competition a success and that happened.”
He also said it was a different experience to be involved in the organisation of an event. “I was training also but I also had to spend time travelling and meeting people. But at the back of my mind, I knew that I had to perform also. This competition has made me stronger in the sense that under a new kind of pressure, I could perform.”
Once the competition was done, Neeraj did a mini victory lap, signing autographs and shaking hands with fans across the fence. The icing on the cake was Neeraj standing on the podium with Yego and Pathirage beside him as the national anthem played. He’ll wind down the day sitting round with the family and ‘chatting and laughing’. “It has been a while since I met my family.”
