Neeraj Chopra invites Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem to his ‘classic’ event in Bengaluru

Neeraj Chopra has invited Pakistan's Olympic gold medallist Arshad Nadeem to the inaugural edition of Neeraj Chopra Classic javelin throw event to be held in Bengaluru in May.

"I have sent an invitation to Arshad, and he said he will get back to me after discussing it with his coach. As of now, he has yet to confirm participation," Chopra said in a media interaction on Monday.

Nadeem denied Chopra successive Olympic gold medals when he produced an impressive 92.97 metre throw in the final in the 2024 Paris Games. Chopra settled for silver with 89.45 m. Chopra had clinched India's maiden track & field Olympic gold in the 2020 Olympics. He threw 87.58 metres in Tokyo.

Major Pakistani athletes have not competed in India and vice versa in recent years due to the diplomatic tension between the neighbouring countries. The Indian men's cricket team refused to visit Pakistan earlier this year for the Champions Trophy, following which Dubai was readied as a neutral venue.

Should Nadeem get clearance, it would be a great advert for the event, as the top three from the recent Olympics would be in action. Grenada's Anderson Peters, who took bronze in Paris, has is one of the confirmed participants.

Besides Peters, who also won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics, and German Thomas Rohler, the participation of Kenyan Julius Yego, silver-medallist in the 2016 Rio Olympics and American Curtis Thompson, the season leader with 87.76m, has also been confirmed.

Though the event was initially planned to be held in Panchkula, Neeraj's home turf, it was shifted to the Sree Kantterava Stadium in Bengaluru for broadcast reasons.