India to host elite javelin tournament, Neeraj and best in world to compete

This event is in addition to a slew of competitions India has expressed its interest to host, including the marquee 2029 World Championships

Chandigarh: Olympic gold and silver medallist Neeraj Chopra will headline a star-studded global javelin competition which India will host most likely in September, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced on Tuesday.

This event is in addition to a slew of competitions India has expressed its interest to host, including the marquee 2029 World Championships.

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Outgoing AFI president Adille Sumariwalla confirmed that India has expressed interest to host the 2029 World Championships, as well as the 2027 World Relays. The AFI has already submitted its expression of interest to host the 2028 World Junior Championships when the international body chief Sebastian Coe visited the country in November last.

“There will be a top javelin competition in India in which the top 10 javelin throwers in the world will compete. This will be an invitation tournament to be held later this year,” Sumariwalla, whose 12-year tenure as AFI chief ended on Tuesday, said on the first day of the AFI Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Not only will Neeraj Chopra participate in the event, but he will also play an active role in its organisation, according to Adille Sumariwalla.

“Neeraj Chopra will be there. He is part of the team that is organising the event, along with JSW, a foreign firm and the AFI are together creating this competition. This is being done as there is so much interest in javelin with August 7 — when Chopra won the Tokyo Olympics gold — being observed as National Javelin Day.” In several countries, it is common for athletes to contribute to promoting and organising global events to boost the sport’s popularity.

Chopra has consistently advocated hosting international events in India to elevate the profile of athletics in the country. Sumariwalla later said the event is most likely to be held in September. Just before the start of the AGM, 2002 Asian Games shot put gold medallist Bahadur Singh Sagoo was elected unopposed as the new AFI chief.

Talking about the big global events India is hoping to host in the next four years, Sumariwalla said, “Bids are open at the moment for (2028) World Junior Championships, 2029 World Championships, World Relays (2027) and India is going to bid for all of them. We have put in our expression of interest and so the process has started.” “We might also do a World Half Marathon,” he said.

India is hosting a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level event in Bhubaneswar on August 10. This will be the first global athletics meet to be hosted by India after the international permit meets, held in the country in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

India has also hosted World Half Marathon Championships in 2004 in New Delhi. The Continental Tour is an annual series of track-and-field competitions held under the aegis of World Athletics and it forms the second tier of international one-day meetings after the prestigious Diamond League.

The bronze-level Tour meet is below the gold and silver levels. The slew of global athletics events India is either hosting or bidding is in line with the country’s bid to host the 2026 Olympics.