Neeraj Chopra to lead star-studded javelin event in India this year, AFI eyes hosting 2029 World Championships
By Sunita Iyer | First Published Jan 7, 2025, 12:51 PM ISTOlympic gold and silver medallist Neeraj Chopra will headline a prestigious global javelin competition set to be hosted by India, likely in September, as announced by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Tuesday.
Olympic gold and silver medallist Neeraj Chopra will headline a prestigious global javelin competition set to be hosted by India, likely in September, as announced by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Tuesday.
This event adds to a series of competitions India aims to host, including the highly anticipated 2029 World Championships.
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Outgoing AFI president Adille Sumariwalla confirmed that India has expressed interest in hosting the 2029 World Championships and the 2027 World Relays. Additionally, the AFI has already submitted its bid to host the 2028 World Junior Championships following a visit from international athletics body chief Sebastian Coe in November.
PASSING THE BATON!!
Asian Games champion in men's shot put Bahadur Singh was elected new president of AFI (2025 to 2029) in Chandigarh today. pic.twitter.com/5S9b3jEtws
"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).
"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."
Sumariwalla later informed PTI that the event is expected to take place 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 president.
Discussing the major global events India hopes to host in the coming years, Sumariwalla stated, "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 will host a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze-level event in Bhubaneswar on August 10, marking the country's first global athletics meet since the international permit events held in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
India previously hosted the World Half Marathon Championships in 2004 in New Delhi.
The Continental Tour is an annual series of track-and-field competitions organized by World Athletics and serves as the second tier of international one-day events, following the prestigious Diamond League.
The bronze-level event ranks below the gold and silver levels of the Tour.
These global athletics events, whether hosted or being bid for, align with India's ambition to host the 2026 Olympics.
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