Neeraj Chopra adds yet another gold to his cabinet with dominating show at Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025

Neeraj Chopra wins Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025 with dominating performance

India's double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra added yet another feather to his already illustrated hat as he won the inaugural edition of Neeraj Chopra Classic 2025 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. Chopra won the event with a 86.18m effort achieved in Round 3. 2016 Olympic silver medallist Julius Yego finished second and the third place was secured by Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage.

The Indian didn't have the best of start as he crossed the 80m mark in the first round itself but stumbled across the throwing line, making the attempt invalid. He raised the bar from Round 2 onwards, grabbed the pole spot and held on to it until the show was wrapped in a packed arena watching India's most decorated athlete in action. It all started with a 82.99m attempt in Round 2 and he followed it by recording his best throw of the evening. The other three throws saw Neeraj touch 84.07m and 80.10m in Round 5 and 6 respectively, while Round 4 saw Chopra commit his second foul.

Interestingly only Yego, also a former World Champion, managed a successful attempt among the eight left in fray in Round 4. The Kenyan hurled the javelin 84.51m, which was his season's best and took him to the second position, where he eventually finished.

He was followed by Pathirage, who like Chopra witnessed an upward trajectory after starting with a 71.19m attempt in Round 1. Pathirage, who switched to javelin from cricket - where he operated as a fast bowler, managed 81.90m in his second attempt and 84.34m in the third, which proved enough to secure him a podium finish.

Neeraj Chopra this season

Neeraj is enjoying a great season after recovering from a groin injury that troubled him at the Paris Olympics, where he claimed silver. He breached the elusive 90m at the Doha Diamond League, recording 90.23m as his best attempt and finished second behind Germany's Julian Weber. He also claimed his first Diamond League title in two years at Paris last month.

Other Indians in competition

Meanwhile, the star studded event had four other domestic talents in fray apart from Chopra. Out of the four, Sachin Yadav on expected lines did the best. Yadav, momentarily also reached the third spot before the massive attempt by Yego dropped him to fourth. He finished the competition at the same position with his best attempt recorded at 82.33m.

Yashvir Singh, who hung around till the final round, had 79.65m as his best attempt. Sahil Silwal and Rohit Yadav were eliminated after Round 3, which also included the elimination of 2016 Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany and Czech Republic's Martin Konecny.