It was Budapest. Kishore Jena’s first true international outing. He was there in Sri Lanka in July but the World Athletics Championship was a whole new arena. In the eight years of his being a javelin thrower, he had practised and competed on synthetic tracks. When he stepped out in Budapest, he found himself on a slippery ground, quite literally. The spikes of his footwear did not hold on to the Mondo track. He felt he was slipping.
“I had never worked on such a surface. It was my first experience of a Mondo track and my spikes were threatening to throw my game off rail,” he recounts. This was after the visa ordeal he had encountered which could be sorted at the very last hour, putting him on the flight to the Hungarian capital. That’s when Neeraj Chopra stepped in, offering Kishore a new set of spikes, pictures of which he has saved in his mobile phone and shows with immense pride. “Neeraj Bhai’s help came as a gift from God,” he says.
When the meet ended, Kishore had figured among the top five in the world. There was Neeraj right at the summit with a throw of 88.17m. Between India’s Olympic champion and Kishore were four others, including Germany’s Julian Weber, two-time Olympic finalist and an European champion with a personal best of 89.54m. Weber hit a 85.79m for the fourth spot and Kishore followed him with a career best 84.77m.
The 28-year-old is in the elite club, but glory sits light on his shoulders. That is true for most javelin throwers. Come to think of it, javelin throw as a sport owes its origin to the ancient methods of warfare where the spear was used against the enemy. While Europeans have dominated the game, it has had Scandinavians’ footprints all over it. Remember the Vikings!
The deadly spear may have a sense of violence and ferocity about it but there is something earthy about its throwers, much like Neeraj’s gesture towards his country-mate-cum-competitor Kishore. It, probably, has something to do with their roots which keeps them grounded even in the most competitive atmosphere.
For the Odisha lad, it was his roots in the farm fields of Puri which propelled him into the game in the most unusual way. He is the youngest among the seven siblings and the only son in the family that belongs to Kothasahi village in Brahmagiri block of Puri. The region, close to the sea, is known for agriculture, prawn farming and tourism due to its proximity to Chilika lagoon.
His father Keshab Jena owns a few acres and the paddy he grew was just about sufficient to provide for the family of nine. When he was in the Sports Hostel of Odisha government in Bhubaneswar, Kishore remembers that his father had a bumper crop and earned about Rs 60,000 in one season.
“He would hand me Rs 500 every two to three months I visited home during festivals. I never understood how he managed to provide for all of us with whatever little he earned from agriculture,” he says. Yet, Keshab and his wife Harapriya kept supporting Kishore in all his endeavours.
It was the meagre financial resources of the family which sent Kishore towards sports in the school and college days. Like others, he played every outdoor game but was particularly good at volleyball which he played for Alarnath Dhandamulak Mahavidyalaya, the college he studied in.
“After clearing Class 10 from Brahmagiri high school in 2010, I was keen on joining the Indian Army. My father needed support. For the Army job, I needed to pass the physical test for which I focused on outdoor sports,” he says. His volleyball skills eventually landed him in the Sports Hostel in Bhubaneswar run by Sports and Youth Services department of Odisha government. That proved to be the cradle where a star would be born.
The Nursery
It was 2015. Kishore started as a volleyball player but his height (176 cm), build and strength prompted the then athletic coach Nilamadhab Deo to advise him to try his skills in javelin. Kishore, then 20, had no skills but he took up the game and won two gold medals in 2015 and 2016 in college events. In both the events, it was with bamboo-made javelins which he threw 45m.
He was so raw at the game that the tail-end of the javelin once hit the back of his head, leaving him injured. But Kishore was a natural. Once during practice, he slipped on the track and suffered injuries on his right leg. That is when coach Deo told him to get spikes. ‘I will not allow you to practise javelin until you have the right footwear,’ was the caution. At the same time, Deo told Sports Hostel in-charge Rupanwita Panda to provide spikes to Kishore.
Back then, as per the government provisions, javelin players used to get three pairs of spike shoes of Rs 1,200 each, every year. “With my regular shoes, I had participated in the state athletic meet and east zone athletic championship in 2015 where I won silver (55m) and bronze (56m) medals respectively. But Rupanwita madam came up with a different plan. She said, instead of three shoes, it’s better to buy one good pair of spikes,” he recalls.
In the early stages of his career, he trained under Nilamadhab Deo, Rupanwita Panda and Rajkumari at Bhubaneswar. Under their guidance, Kishore rewrote the state meet record in 2017 hitting a distance of 72.77m.His volleyball days long over, Kishore was now ready to get a job with his javelin achievements.
Turning Point
The turning point came in 2018 when he landed a job with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Bhopal. There he got the opportunity to train under Jagbir Singh, a throwing events coach. However, it was not until 2021 that he would be trained by a proper javelin coach.
At CISF, his aim was to excel in javelin and win medals at police meets. The job gave him time to train and a balanced diet but Kishore had little resources to foot the bill for supplements so necessary for professional athletes. “I had to send money to my family because my father had met with an accident in 2018 and had to quit farming. Our land was given to sharecroppers. My job was important and it never occurred to me that I could be a professional javelin player and compete in national and international meets,” he says.
His mental state and preparations always arrested him below the 75m mark. He did not even think about it. One day, he remembers, coach Jagbir told him that he would recommend Kishore for the national camp at Patiala if he went past the 75m mark. “Those days, nothing was going right, except my job. My father was serious after the accident. I couldn’t concentrate on my game and family responsibilities were growing. However, in the Inter-state meet at Chennai, I threw 77m and got selected for the national camp in 2021,” he says.
Guru-Sishya Bond
That changed the game. At Patiala, he was exposed to a whole new world, new training schedule, improved diets and better supplements. He also got his first javelin coach - Samarjeet Singh Malhi, an Asian Athletics Championship bronze medalist.
The metamorphosis that a professional javelin thrower needed came with Malhi. It was both mental and technical. Between 2015 when Kishore’s tryst with javelin started and 2021 when he landed at the national camp, his approach run had never exceeded 14m. The coach had to work on his pupil to increase the distance. From 14 m to 18 m, Kishore’s run-up now measures 23m.
“He was apprehensive about increasing the approach run which he felt could tinker with the release point, force, trajectory, lift and dip. He thought the aerodynamics could be affected but boldly took up the challenge nonetheless,” Malhi says.
For him, Kishore was like an unpolished diamond. “He has all the qualities of being a world-class javelin thrower. Plus, he surrendered completely to my coaching ways,” Malhi tells The New Indian Express.
Kishore had to let go. He had to unshackle himself from the mind trap of mid-70m throws. He never missed a day’s training at the national camp, did not seek leave to visit his family which was his strongest motivator. And it was his trust in his coach that brought the awakening. “His dedication, discipline and hard work impressed me. The most impressive factor is that he always trusted me with all is heart,” says the 34-year old Malhi.
The coach, though, was cautious because he did not want to make radical changes in Kishore’s techniques. It was never going to be simple and needed formidable mental strength and technique. To get the perfect arch and force for the throw, he worked on the upper part of Kishore’s body to get it perfect.
With top training facilities, diet and a coach invested in him, Kishore’s throw graph soared in the last two years of his stint at the national camp. The young man who never dreamt of being a professional athlete during his CISF days, marked his first 80m distance on March 20 this year at the Indian Grand Prix, Trivandrum where he bagged the gold medal with a 81.05m throw.
There was no stopping him after that. In the Inter-State Athletic Championship at Kalinga Stadium on June 19, he claimed a silver medal with 82.87m. At Diyagama, Kishore emerged the champion with a 84.38m throw in the 101st Sri Lankan Championships in July. Then came Budapest, where he finished fifth with 84.77m on August 27. It was followed by Indian Grand Prix at Chandigarh where he threw 82.53 and landed the gold.
“My performance is improving every day and I know my game better. During the off seasons, my coach trains me for five and half hours a day for development of strength and stamina. During the competitive seasons, we work out for three hours and the focus is more on technique,” he points out.
With his stellar show, Kishore is now hailed as the next javelin star of the country, having made one of the fastest progress in the last couple of years. He returned home for two days after the Budapest performance. The Odisha government rolled out a red carpet for the Puri boy who has just turned 28.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik felicitated him at a grand event and handed a Rs 50 lakh cheque for his spectacular achievements. For the ensuing Asian Games which starts on September 23, he has been awarded another Rs 10 lakh.
For Kishore, Neeraj remains the idol. “His gold in Tokyo Olympic Games made athletes like me dream about winning international medals. It was my dream to participate in a competition alongside of him. He is the best athlete of our country and a better human being,” says Kishore. Malhi, however, has not congratulated his pupil yet. “I am not fully satisfied with his accomplishments because I know he will better his personal best of 84.77m. I am confident of a magical throw from him and will wait to congratulate him on that day,” says the 34-year-old coach.
2023 80m & above
81.05m
March 20, Indian Grand Prix, Trivandrum
82.87m
June 19, Inter-State Athletic Championship, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar
84.38m
July 28, 101st Sri Lankan Championships, Diyagama
84.77m
August 27, World Athletics Championships, Budapest
82.53m
September 10, Indian Grand Prix, Chandigarh