BHUBANESWAR:
Neeraj Chopra's former coach, the Australian
javelin
expert
Garry Calvert
, had called him “a rare talent” and “someone you can watch throw the javelin all day”. Sports fans present at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday got a glimpse of that sparkle in the 19-year-old when he clinched the gold and set a meet record with his final throw of the day.
On Sunday, he started with a foul and improved to the third place with disappointing 78.59 and 78.54m efforts. But his last throw, distance of 85.23m, helped him clinch the gold while breaking Japanese Y Murakami's six-year-old record. “I knew I had to do it with that very attempt. So I told myself I'd do it and put everything into that throw,” he said.
Asked when he knew he had made the meet record, he replied: “I knew I had won it as soon as I released the javelin.”
But what makes his feat more remarkable is the fact that the reigning junior world champion is without a coach since Calvert left India in April last year. With the World Championships scheduled to start on August 4 in London, it is going to be a race against time for the
Athletics
Federation of India to bring in a mentor for him.
An AFI official, however, said that the federation is likely to hold a meeting in a day or two to decide on the issue. “He may be sent to Europe for training under a coach,“ the official added.
“I can do most of the regular training on my own. But when there is a coach, I don't need to worry about the actual training -if I'm doing it right or wrong. I can leave that to a good coach and just concentrate on my diet and rest,” he commented.