The team of Indian elite javelin throwers including the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Shivpal Singh and Anu Rani under the guidance of Uwe Hohn and Dr Klaus arrived in Bhubneshwar on Thursday to prepare for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2021. They will start their training at Kalinga stadium at will continue to do that for a month.
Indian star Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra who won the Gold medal at Asian Athletics Championship 2017 in the city talked about his experience of playing and training in the city back then in detail. He said “We are here for the training camp and prior in 2017, I won gold here and have fond memories of the event and the city. We are a team of five athletes and we will commence our training in full swing. With our best efforts, we are hoping to do well at the Olympics and bringing fame for the country.”
“Javelin is my identity and I am incomplete without it, but I know I have to be patient.”
India's Asian Games champion @Neeraj_chopra1 is beginning to look forward following a throw-free lockdown.
📰: https://t.co/eIHPGUzwpw pic.twitter.com/6vMNSpgD4d
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) June 27, 2020
Secretary Sports, Odisha, Vishal K Dev, said, “Kalinga Stadium that was recently upgraded as per FIFA standards, to host the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup 2020, will host the Camp for the first time, and we are happy that the Athletic Federation of India chosen Bhubaneswar as the base for the elite Javelin Throw Group, to train for the upcoming Olympic event, This is an important stage and we will extend every support to the team.”
“The javelin throwers will have access to both our grounds, infrastructure and facilities within the stadium,” he added.
In order to make sure that training is conducted in a healthy way, a proper Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) has been kept in place by respective health authorities as the team shifted their base from NIS Patiala to Bhubneshwar due to difficulty in training because of extreme cold conditions in Punjab.
A Javelin throw is a sport which comes under track and field category where a spear about 2.5 m(8 ft 2 inches) in length, is thrown where a thrower gains momentum by running in a predetermined area. This sport is played by both men and women under the name decathlon and heptathlon respectively. The interesting thing about the sport is the weight of javelin in the under 20 categories is the same as the senior level.
