BENGALURU: In sport, there are no satisfaction guarantees. This truism, though, has had several exceptions. From an Indian context, the one modern athlete who has come closest to shattering this maxim has been Neeraj Chopra.
The 27-year-old guarantees wins or podium places. Since June 2021, 24 meets ago, he has only known two sporting pincodes. First or second. Whatever the magnitude of the competition — Olympics, World Championships, top-tier invitations or low-key season openers — the Indian has risen to the occasion.
Shortly after 7.30 pm on a windy evening at Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Chopra added another line to an already glittering CV. As soon as Sahil Silwal hurtled down the runway to mark the beginning of the NC Classic, the javelin ace entered into the history books for the sheer scale and ambition of conceptualising, ideating and organising a world-class athletics event in India.
And Chopra’s role in this shouldn’t be understated — Saturday ushered in the birth of Chopra the administrator. It was all about putting in place the building blocks towards securing a legacy off the field. Moving forward, the NC Classic could see multiple disciplines. At least that’s what he hopes.
With CM Siddaramaiah and 1,000s of others in attendance, the event belatedly caught fire when the familiar frame of Chopra stood at the top of the runway for his third throw.
Batting a bit of a crosswind, he cut across seven of the eight lanes and past the timer before launching the spear into the Bengaluru night sky. A few seconds later, ‘86.18m’ had flashed on the screen. After two below par throws, the titular character had finally grazed the occasion. His occasion. It stayed that way for the rest of the night. ‘A satisfaction guarantee’.