Taking part in an event that bears your name requires a fair amount of chutzpah. Yes, it does happen in the world of sport -- the Mondo Classic, for example, is named after pole vaulting great Armand Duplantis and takes place in his hometown (with the host inevitably winning it). But it is tricky territory and even the greatest can fall prey to perceptions of hubris. Remember Roger Federer and his "RF" jackets with the gold lettering?
Neeraj Chopra has chutzpah, lots of it. There's enough evidence from his life post-Tokyo (and even leading up to it) to suggest he walks his own path and sees things few others can or have dared to. And it was a no-brainer that the event named after him, one where he was host, event manager and star participant, would be won by him. He came, he oversaw, he conquered.
But there is a much broader narrative at play in the Neeraj Chopra Classic that eliminated any associated notion of pomp or overblown ego, of wallowing in the spotlight. Put simply, Neeraj staked his reputation to do something bigger. He would be aware of the fickleness of the Indian sports fan, whose loyalties to anything other than star cricketers are determined by success at the highest levels (and it helps if its broadcast on primetime TV), aware of the blinkered, self-serving vision of politicians and bureaucrats and aware of the suits' focus on the bottom line. And staging a single-discipline event, only the javelin, no runners or other throwers - no other attraction but him. Doing anything off the beaten path in Indian sport requires a thick skin, humility, tact and loads of determination. Maybe that is chutzpah, Neeraj-style.
And so the NCC went off smoothly, the slick private-sector event management (and the lessons from the RCB fiasco) evident at every turn. From crowd control to pre-event entertainment to even the "gameofthrows' social-media hashtag, there were smart minds at work. And it paid off, as the 14,539 fans in attendance testified. In fact the fans played a huge role, cheering not only the favourite but others too, especially the veteran Julius Yego.
The historic Neeraj Chopra Classic
India's first-ever international javelin tournament �� pic.twitter.com/4vR8CGLPO1
- ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) July 6, 2025
That was good news and also a sobering message for Indian sport, something the officials so eager to share the spotlight with Neeraj on Saturday would do well to study, internalise and replicate as much as possible. Simply put, it's this: If you want to become an Olympic powerhouse, if you want to host top-level international sporting events not because you can build the infrastructure but because you can compete like you belong there, then you need not one Neeraj Chopra Classic, not two, not a handful, but dozens of similar events across the country, across sports, across age groups. Events where sport is the priority, where participants are treated with respect, where weather conditions are conducive to good performances and where fan involvement is factored into the planning.
You'd think these conditions would be a given at any top sporting event in India. But two months ago, the same officials crowding the stage around Neeraj in Bengaluru organised the Federation Cup -- India's premier athletics event -- in Kochi. I'm quoting from the ESPN story on that event: "From Monday to Thursday, the Fed Cup was held in the blazing heat of the Kochi morning and afternoon -- the afternoon sessions, when the finals were held, started at 2.30 PM and ended around 5.30 PM. The sun's harsh glare was interrupted on a couple of days by light early evening showers, although all the rain did was add to the high humidity levels."
The result? Athletes, who had to compete there to qualify for the Asian Athletics Championships, struggled with the heat and humidity. Gurendervir Singh (then the 100m national record holder) cramped up in the final -- it was his third event of the day. Javelin thrower Sachin Yadav spoke about the heavy air affecting trajectory. With little shade available, athletes fell ill. And the fan experience? There were no fans in attendance except friends and family (and a few drunks using the quiet to sleep it off).
Athletics Federation of India president Bahadur Singh Sagoo (among those sharing the stage with Neeraj in Bengaluru), when asked about the conditions, said: "We selected this venue because we are conducting trials for the Asian Championships. So, the temperature here is fine. All over India, especially in the north, will be very hot. So that's why we kept it here."
And that's the Fed Cup, the premier athletics event. Imagine conditions down the line, at state- and district-level tournaments, at junior events, not in the metros or Tier-2 towns but away from the prying eyes of media and other troublemakers. Better still, don't, because what happens there is beyond anyone's imagination.
But that is where the work has to happen, in all those unglamorous settings. If you don't nurture the grassroots, you will not get the crop of athletes that will make India a sporting superpower. Make no mistake, the likes of Neeraj, the shooters, boxers and wrestlers who've succeeded at the highest level are outliers.
There seem to be two versions of Indian sport currently existing simultaneously. One is what I've just described, the events that take place away from objective scrutiny. The other is the big-event strategy, the line-up of the mega, multi-nation sporting tournaments over the next five to ten years that those who control (officially or otherwise) Indian sport want to bid for: The Olympics, Asian and Commonwealth Games, World Athletics and several others. (The first of these is in a couple of months' time -- the World Para Athletics Championships, to be held in New Delhi from September 27, will be interesting to see given how Indian sport has always treated para-athletes.)
This bizarre dichotomy, ignored by the self-serving cheerleaders eyeing a slice of the pie, is best summed up by a couple of pithy quotes earlier this year by the great hurdler-turned-sports administrator Edwin Moses. Asked if hosting these mega events could help find better athletes, Moses said: "It depends on what the vision is for having [them]. Is it just to have an event in India, or is it to really develop sports? That's the big question...There's a lot of other countries in the world, much smaller, with much less financial capabilities than India, that produce good athletes. So, the infrastructure is just not there to support athletes and take Olympic sports seriously."
It seems the world outside the echo chambers is in agreement with Moses' sentiments. Last week, the Indian Express reported that an Indian delegation had met IOC officials in Lausanne to pitch for the 2036 Olympics. The IOC, it reported, told the delegation to first sort out Indian sport: Fix governance issues, tackle the rampant doping menace and improve sporting performance.
The message is clear: Sport is not only about building brick-and-mortar infrastructure, which India can do easily. It is about building sporting and human infrastructure, a far more difficult task. It is about treating athletes (of all ages, in all events, at all levels) as human beings first. It is about seeing sport not merely as a series of boxes to be ticked, targets to be met or, being mildly cynical, a lot of money to be made. It will require, of the officials and those in charge, thick skin, humility, tact and loads of determination. The Neeraj Chopra Classic showed what is possible if one person wants to do it; what if the entire system thought the same way?