Kishore Jena joins star lineup at Neeraj Chopra classic

Asian Games silver medalist Kishore Jena has joined the lineup for the Neeraj Chopra Classic, the organisers said on Thursday, taking the number of total participants to 12, with five of them being Indian.

The Neeraj Chopra Classic will be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on May 24.

The 29-year-old Jena thus joins India's rising javelin stars Sachin Yadav, Rohit Yadav, and Sahil Silwal, who are bracing up for the chance to compete with double Olympic medalist Neeraj and some of the best in the world.

The new javelin competition, which has been given 'A' category status by World Athletics, will have five Indians, including Chopra who is hosting the event.

Jena finished second behind Neeraj at the Hangzhou Asian Games with a personal best of 87.54m.

The foreign competitors for the event are two-time world champion Anderson Peters (PB: 93.07m) of Grenada; 2016 Olympics gold winner Thomas Rohler (PB: 93.90m) of Germany; 2015 world champion Julius Yego (92.72m) of Kenya; American Curtis Thompson (current season leader with 87.76m); Asian Games bronze medalist Genki Dean (PB: 84.28m) of Japan; Rumesh Pathirage (PB: 85.45m) of Sri Lanka; and Luiz Mauricio da Silva (PB: 85.91m) of Brazil.

The event will be jointly organized by Chopra and JSW Sports in collaboration with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics.