Double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, in his own admission, is a bundle of nerves as he gets down to organising the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic – a competition featuring some of the world’s best javelin stars at Bangalore’s Kanteerava Stadium on May 24.  “I’ve harboured this dream for many years, to have an international javelin competition in India. I have travelled around the world for competitions and have seen see how top events are organised and how the local people support these events. I loved being part of them and always wondered if and when we could bring to this to India for our home fans to be able watch world-class athletes. I’m glad World Athletics have given this even a Category A status,” Chopra said during an online media interaction on Monday.

Coach Zelezny’s suggestion

Revealing the story behind naming the event after him, he said that it was a suggestion by his Czech coach and world record holder Jan Zelezny. “I was talking to Zelezny and he said it’ll be good if it’s named after me. I was also inspired by some events named after famous athletes like the Mondo Classic [named after pole vault world champion Mondo Duplantis] and the Kip Keino Classic [named after Kenya’s two-time Olympic champion Kipchoge Keino],” added Chopra, India’s first Olympic gold medallist in track and field events.