Kishore Jena to Spearhead Indian Charge as Neeraj Chopra Classic Unveils Star-Studded Athlete Line-Up

Image Source: Business Standard

Asian Games silver medallist and India's leading 87m+ javelin thrower, Kishore Jena, has officially declared his entry for the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic (NC Classic) 2025. The May 24 event at Bengaluru's Sri Kanteerva Stadium will be an historic event in Indian athletics, bringing together India's finest javelin throwers and the best in the world.

Jena, who won silver at the 2022 Asian Games and placed in the top five of the 2023 World Championships, will lead the Indian team.

The Indian team at NC Classic 2025 includes:

Neeraj Chopra (Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, Paris Olympic silver medallist, current World Champion)
Kishore Jena (Asian Games silver medallist)
Rohit Yadav
Sachin Yadav
Sahil Silwal

The meet, co-hosted by Neeraj Chopra, JSW Sport, the Athletics Federation of India, and World Athletics, is a World Athletics 'A' category meet, which is comparable to a Continental Tour Gold-level competition in ranking points.

Verified worldwide celebrities participating in the competition are:

Anderson Peters (Grenada, two-time Olympic bronze medallist, two-time world champion)
Julius Yego (Kenya, Rio Olympic silver medallist, one-time world champion)
Curtis Thompson (USA, world leader, Pan American Games champion)
Thomas Rohler (Germany, 2016 Olympic Champion)
Genki Dean (Japan)
Luiz Mauricio da Silva (Brazil)
Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka)

The NC Classic 2025 will also be an important qualifying event for the World Athletics Championships to be staged in Tokyo this September, although Neeraj Chopra has already been guaranteed his place as world champion.

With a galaxy of stars and a robust Indian line-up, the Neeraj Chopra Classic is set to be a spectacle of world-class javelin talent on Indian soil.

Source: LatestLY