The Neeraj Chopra show will go on

The first ever Neeraj Chopra Classic was held recently at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru and the winner was none other than Neeraj Chopra.

- Melvin Durai

It was India’s first ever international javelin tournament, first World Athletics gold tier event, and first major athletics event named after an Indian athlete.

Before Chopra became India’s first Olympic gold medalist in a track and field event in 2021, who would have imagined that a crowd of almost 15,000 would gather in India to watch javelin throwing? Chess maybe, but not javelin. Carom maybe, but not javelin. Scrabble maybe, but not javelin.

But there they were, throngs of people chanting his name and cheering him to victory.

“It was emotional. I wasn’t expecting such a turnout,” Chopra said. “It made me want to throw further. But also, it added pressure.”

Did you hear that? It made him want to throw further.