BHUBANESWAR: As the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships took its final turn on Monday, the day suddenly seemed cooler compared to the other four days in Bhubaneswar. There was a waft of breeze and quite a bit of expectation as some top stars hit the track and field for one last time at the event. If other days had its shares of personal bests and Asian Games qualifications, the last day had its share of excitement with a national record.
The shot put circle had its familiar throwers but one that hurled the iron ball to the maximum was the inimitable Tajinderpal Singh Toor. Focussed as always, his third attempt touched the 21.77m mark, beating his own national record of 21.49m achieved in 2021. This is an Asian record as well.
It had not been easy for Toor in the last eight months or so. His long-time coach, Mohinder Singh Dhillon, had shifted to Australia last year and he had to train long-distance until he found Prabir Singh. “This season has been good. I had thrown 21.20m in Bengaluru GP earlier and now this national and Asian record,” he said. “It has taken some time to settle down after marriage in 2021,” he said.
“Now I am training with Prabir Singh. Dhillon sahab also taught me a lot.” He also talked about the loss of his grandmother. There have been personal setbacks as well. “There was a complication during childbirth and the baby had to be aborted,” he said. “You can’t do anything about all this. It’s not in our hands but one thing is sure after such big setbacks God pulls your hand and brings you back.”
Rohit wins gold in javelin
Kishore Kumar Jena started his sporting career as a volleyball player in 2016. Little did he know that one day he would be hurling spears and not spiking a volleyball. He was enrolled into the Bhubaneswar sports hostel and things changed after Nilamadhab Deo advised him to take up javelin throw.
On Monday, on his home ground, Jena threw the javelin to a distance he had never thrown before — 82.87m. His previous personal best was 81.05m in March this year. With the throw, he secured silver at the nationals and also attained the Asiad qualification mark of 78.23m.
The gold and bronze medal were won by Rohit Yadav (83.28m) and Shivpal Singh (81.96m), who was making a comeback after a doping ban. All three medallists have acquired the Asian Games qualification mark. However, only two players will be part of Asiad. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra is the automatic choice and it needs to be seen who the Athletics Federation of India prefers as the second man.
“The period between 2018 and 2021 was not good for me,” said Jena, who had been training at the national camp in Patiala for more than two years now. “After that, my performance is improving. Today’s throw is my personal best, my goal is the World Championships qualification mark. During practice, I threw 84m plus and I really hope that I touch that figure in competition as well.” Like many budding javelin throwers of the country, he also idolises Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra. “He not only motivated me to do better but also inspired many young athletes of our country,” he said.
Shaili eyes Asian meet
Shaili Singh finished behind Ancy Sojon (6.51m) with a jump of 6.49m, nothing near her personal best of 6.76m. “After Covid, she has been struggling with her rhythm a bit,” said her coach Robert Bobby George. She had Covid after the Bengaluru meet where she jumped 6.76m. “Today (Monday), she jumped well but somehow the rhythm was missing. She jumped way behind the board and we will have to work on that.”
For Shaili, it will be back in training until the Asian Championships in Bangkok next month. “After the Asian Championships we are looking at a couple of events in Switzerland,” said Robert, who is hoping that she would qualify for the World Championships in Budapest in August. “If she can finish with a good jump and a good position in the Asian meet, she will have a real chance for the World,” said Robert. In the men’s event, M Sreeshankar could manage 8.29m in the second of the two legitimate jumps he had in the final. His qualification mark of 8.41m was enough for direct qualification for the World Championships.