The inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic makes its bow at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on July 5 at 6:30pm. The first-ever World Athletics Category 'A' event to be held in India, it cements Neeraj Chopra's sporting legacy beyond his sporting achievements as an Olympic and World champion.
Featuring Neeraj Chopra himself, the field also includes former Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany, former world champion Julius Yego of Kenya as well as the likes of Curtis Thompson (USA), Luiz Mauricio da Silva (Brazil), Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka) and Cyprian Mrzyglod (Poland) - all who have personal bests that exceed 85m. Martin Konecny of Czechia rounds out the foreign contingent, although Anderson Peters, who won bronze at the Paris Olympics misses out through injury, as does Asian Games medallist Kishore Kumar Jena.
Alongside Chopra, there will be four other Indians in the fray - with Sachin Yadav, Sahil Silwal, Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh also taking part. It affords India's upcoming pool of javelin throwers the chance to grab precious Category 'A' points and perform against international stars they ordinarily would not compete with.
This is the legacy the Chopra seeks with this competition. Speaking in a press conference before the event in Bengaluru, the two-time Olympic medallist outlined his thoughts, saying "I feel like I'm in a dream. Medals are a different thing. But I've given something like this to India and to Indian athletes. I'm very happy about that. This is the beginning of a new chapter in our athletics. The support I'm getting from everyone. From the government, from KOA (Karnataka Olympic Association), from World Athletics, from the sponsors... I feel like we can make this event even better."
"This is the beginning of international competitions in India. As we see, there are so many international competitions in Germany and such nations - A category, B, C etc and every week, there's a competition. So, this is what I want in India, as there should be at least 4, 5, 6 competitions which are world class. The athletes should get a chance and people should see them play. That will be very good for our sport."
Chopra is favourite to win the event named after him, with Rohler and Yego's recent form not as impressive, and the the duo are unlikely to upstage him despite their pedigree. The Indian comes into the event on the back of winning the Paris Diamond League and the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czechia as he builds up to the World Championships later this year under new coach Jan Zelezny.
Chopra has already broken the long-standing barrier of 90m under the tutelage of the sport's GOAT, but claims there is more to come as he fine-tunes his javelin throwing technique. It's all set to be quite the blockbuster under the evening skies in Bengaluru.
You can follow minute-by-minute coverage of the event in our live blog below: