India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won the inaugural edition of Neeraj Chopra Classic in Bengaluru on Saturday, July 5. Neeraj won the NC Classic 2025, an event named in his honour with a best throw of 86.18m at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
Reigning men’s javelin throw world champion Neeraj Chopra dominated the NC Classic 2025, winning the event named in his honour at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Kenya’s Julius Yego and 2015 world champion, logged a season’s best of 84.51m with his fourth attempt to finish second. On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage completed the top three with a best effort of 84.34m.
Meanwhile, India’s Sachin Yadav, who won a silver medal at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships was fourth with a best throw of 82.33m.
Neeraj, a two-time Olympic medallist, began with a foul before taking the lead with 82.99m with his second attempt. He momentarily lost the perch to Pathirage before regaining it with 86.18m in his third. The 27-year-old Chopra logged 84.07m and 82.22m with his final two throws but no one came close to matching his third attempt.
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
Notably, the inaugural edition of the Neeraj Chopra Classic marked a historic chapter for the athletics scene in the country as the first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Level or World Athletics Category A event held in India.
The NC Classic, which was co-organised by Neeraj himself, along with JSW Sports, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics, featured a field of 12, including seven international stars. It was Neeraj’s sixth competitive outing of the 2025 athletics season.
Neeraj started his season with a win at the Potch Invitational in South Africa before finishing second at the Doha Diamond League, where he breached the 90m barrier with a massive 90.23m throw.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist had to settle for a second-place finish again at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland. But, he returned to winning at the Paris Diamond League before clinching the top spot at the Ostrava Golden Spike last month.
The NC Classic was also Neeraj’s first outing on Indian soil after winning the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar last year.
