Neeraj awaits new beginning with NC Classic

Athletes went about their routines as a cool breeze swept through Kanteerava Stadium, a result of Bengaluru being hit by rain over the past few days. A bunch of animated basketball players were on court in near darkness close to a massive cutout of Neeraj Chopra announcing the Neeraj Chopra Classic that will take place on Saturday.

- Avishek Roy

Chopra, the two-time Olympic medallist, world champion and India's pride in global athletics, has played a vital role in bringing a “gold category” World Athletics event to India and giving young Indian javelin throwers an opportunity to compete against some of the world's best. The list of competitors here include Germany's 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Rohler, Kenyan 2015 world champion Julius Yego and USA's Curtis Thompson (87.76m), who is second in the field after Chopra (90.23m) as leading throwers of this season.

The late withdrawal of two-time world champion Anderson Peters has come as a disappointment but there are hundreds of fans who are excited to witness world-class javelin action with Chopra headlining the lineup.