Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem on Wednesday said he has declined Neeraj Chopra’s invitation to compete in the NC Classic javelin event in Bengaluru on May 24 as that will clash with his training schedule for the upcoming Asian Athletics Championships. Nadeem, however, said he was grateful to Chopra for inviting him for the event. “The (NC) Classic event is from 20th May (May 24) whereas I am scheduled to leave for Korea on 22nd May for the Asian Athletics Championship,” Nadeem said. He said he had been training hard for the Asian Championship which will be held in Gumi, Korea from May 27 to 31.

On Monday, Chopra had said that he had sent invitation to Nadeem to compete in the inaugural event which the Indian superstar is hosting.

“I have sent invitation to Arshad and he said he will get back to me after discussing with his coach. As of now he is yet to confirm participation,” Chopra told reporters in a virtual media interaction on Monday.

Nadeem had clinched gold in the 2024 Paris Games with an Olympic record throw of 92.97m, beating Chopra who could manage 89.45m to win the silver.

The maiden edition of Neeraj Chopra Classic javelin throw event will be teeming with stars as the likes of Anderson Peters of Grenada and Thomas Rohler of Germany are taking part.

Peters, who hails from Grenada, is a two-time world champion and Rohler is the gold-medallist from the 2016 Olympics.

The participation of Kenyan Julius Yego, a silver-medallist in the 2016 Rio Olympics besides being a 2015 World Championships gold winner, and American Curtis Thompson, who is the current season leader with 87.76m, has also been confirmed.

The competition has been granted category A status by World Athletics.

The event will be jointly organised by Chopra and JSW Sports in collaboration with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics, featuring top global as well as Indian javelin throwers.