Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra is set to compete in India in the inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic (NC Classic) javelin throw competition, which is scheduled to take place at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Haryana, on May 24, the World Athletics confirmed, according to Olympics.com.
NC classic will be the one-day javelin throw event, which will be 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 started in 2020 as the successor to the World Challenge series and features four tiers, including gold, silver, bronze and challenger.
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 last competed on Indian soil in 2024 at the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition in Bhubaneswar. It was his build-up to the Paris Olympics, he threw his javelin 82.27 m.
During Neeraj's recent outing at the Paris Olympics 2024, the last edition's gold medallist won the silver medal. He had 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. Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem clinched the gold medal with an Olympic record of 92.97m.