Panchkula to host Neeraj Chopra Classic in May

In a full-circle moment, the stadium where Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra spent some of his formative years will host a tourney named after him.

The Neeraj Chopra Classic javelin throw competition will be played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 3, on May 24. The inaugural edition of the competition has been approved by the World Athletics and the one-day meet is classified as a World Athletics ‘A’ category event equating to a Continental Tour Gold-level competition in ranking points.

The Continental Tour, a second-tier global athletics series behind the Diamond League, was launched in 2020 as the successor to the World Challenge series and features four tiers: gold, silver bronze and challenger.

The Panchkula event will also serve as a crucial qualification event for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13 to 21. In February, this year, Chopra along with the members of World Athletics visited the stadium to plan the event.

Former AFI president Adille Sumariwalla had earlier stated that the invitational tournament would feature the world’s top 10 javelin throwers in men’s and women’s categories, during the annual general elections of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) held in Chandigarh in January.

Chopra had last competed on home soil at the last National Federation Senior Athletics Competition in Bhubaneswar, throwing 82.27m in his build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

And, the event in Panchkula will be his first. “The preparations have been underway already. The technical teams will be arriving here in the last week of April, and will take over the preparations. The tournament will not only attract top javelin throwers of the country, but also many big names of athletics sport. The vent is most likely to be inaugurated by a top politician of the county and it will be a grand affair,” said a local official.

“It will be an emotional moment not only for Chopra but also for the staff who once saw him stepping into the big shoes. The event will be also important considering the fact, he will b performing in India after a gap of almost a year,” the official added.

Chandigarh