My dream of giving back to my country came to life with NC Classic: Neeraj Chopra

New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) Neeraj Chopra, the Golden Boy of Indian athletics, has revealed he has always dreamt of giving back to his country for showing relentless support in his pursuit of gold whenever he takes the field and believes he has done exactly that with the Neeraj Chopra Classic.

The 27-year-old won the inaugural edition of Neeraj Chopra Classic, a World Athletics gold-level event, with a best throw of 86.18m here at Sree Kanteerva Stadium on Saturday.

“I have many to thank - from friends and family to officials and organisations. But for now, I’ll keep it simple. Giving back to my country was a small dream of mine that came to life with the Neeraj Chopra Classic.

Winning it was special, but even more special was the process of putting it together.

"I want to say a big thank you to everyone who played their part in making this possible. To the athletes who came from far, we’ll try to do one better next time. And to everyone that turned up at the Kanteerava - this was honestly one of the best atmospheres I’ve experienced while doing what I love the most,” read the post by the two-time Olympic medallist.

Kenya’s Julius Yego finished second after notching up his season-best throw of 84.51m Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage came third with a best throw of 84.34m.

Chopra, who was welcomed by the 14,593 people with thunderous roars and cheers, began with a foul but took the lead with the 2nd attempt of 82.99m. He then registered the biggest throw of the night with his third throw of 86.16 to thrill the Bengaluru crowd. He followed it up with a foul in the fourth attempt and 84.07 in the fifth before rounding off the event with 82.22m.

Chopra began his season by winning the Potch Invitational Meet in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in April before finishing second at the Doha Diamond League, where he breached the elusive 90m mark with a 90.23m throw to reset the Indian national record.

He then finished second again at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Poland and followed it up with a win at the Paris Diamond League meet last week as he claimed top spot with an 88.16m throw and Ostrava Golden Spike 2025 athletics with 85.29.

--IANS

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