India's rising javelin stars Sachin Yadav, Rohit Yadav, and Sahil Silwal are set for a once-in-a-life-time experience of competing with double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra and some of the best in the world as they have been added to the roster for the Neeraj Chopra Classic to be held in Bengaluru on May 24.
The prestigious javelin competition, which has been given A category status by World Athletics, will thus have four Indians, including Chopra who is hosting the event.
The event will see eleven athletes, including seven foreigners, vying for honours.
"India, here's your homegrown contingent for the #NCClassic2025! The full list of confirmed Indian javelin throwers for the inaugural edition of the #NeerajChopraClassic is out!" said a post on 'X' handle of the event, along with the three Indian names and their pictures.
The 25-year-old Sachin has a personal best of 84.39m and he had recently won gold in the Federation Cup in Kochi as well as in the Uttarakhand National Games in February. He has also been named in the Indian team for the Asian Championships (May 27-31) in South Korea.
Rohit, 23, has a personal best of 83.40m which he had achieved in 2023. He had undergone surgery in 2023 and made a return last year. He had won a silver in the Uttarakhand National Games with 80.47m, but settled for the seventh place with a modest 76.37m in the Federation Cup.
The 24-year-old Sahil is another up and coming javelin thrower in the 80m club. He has a personal best of 81.81m which he had achieved while winning gold in the National Inter-State Championships last year. He finished third in the Federation Cup with a throw of 77.84m.
During a recent virtual interaction Chopra, who has a personal best of 89.94m, had said that the NC Classic will have 3-4 Indians competing in it.
The foreign competitors for the event are two-time world champion Anderson Peters (PB: 93.07m) of Grenada, 2016 Olympics gold winner Thomas Rohler (PB: 93.90m) of Germany, 2015 world champion Julius Yego (92.72m) of Kenya, American Curtis Thompson (current season leader with 87.76m), Asian Games bronze medallist Genki Dean (PB: 84.28m) of Japan, Rumesh Pathirage (PB: 85.45m) of Sri Lanka, Luiz Mauricio da Silva (PB: 85.91m) of Brazil.
Chopra had also invited Pakistan's Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem who, however, declined the offer, citing clash of dates with his training schedule for the upcoming Asian Athletics Championships.
The event will be jointly organised by Chopra and JSW Sports in collaboration with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics.