Meet Misti Karmakar: The rising Javelin sensation set to compete in the Asian U-18 Meet

Misti Karmakar, Annu Rani, Neeraj Chopra, Javelin Throw

April 16, 2025

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Meet Misti Karmakar: The rising Javelin sensation set to compete in the Asian U-18 Meet

Javelin Throw is an outdoor sport, a track and field athletic event that has been gaining prominence in the las few years, thanks to the popularity created by Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra. Annu Rani, the 2022 Commonwealth Games medalist is probably one of the most popular and only known female javelin throws athlete of the modern era.

A new name that is gaining limelight, though in the beginning levels is a young girl from West Bengal, Misti Karmakar. This sixteen-year-old is all set to represent the country at the upcoming Asian Championships, overcoming the monetary struggle with her father’s support and community help.

Her father Sanjay Karmakar is a part-time hawker at the Malda Railway station, who is able to even barely meet two ends and provide food to feed the family on a daily basis. He clearly did not have any means to support the training required in this sport. Not being a licensed vendor means he is not always allowed to sell his meals inside the station.

He would often feel distressed seeing the earlier years when Misti travelled far and wide to reach the athletics academy, train, attend school and repeat the drill in the evening. But Sanjay never stopped her from following the passion – arranged the required stuff from the community members and relatives.

Misti Karmakar, Annu Rani, Neeraj Chopra, Javelin Throw

Moving on from that, today Misti is amongst India’s promising youth javelin throwers. She will represent the country at the Asian Under-18 Athletics Championships in Saudi Arabia, thanks to her gold medal at the National Youth Athletics Championships in Patna. She made the cut courtesy her personal best timing of 45.02 metres.

As per some media publications, Misti took up the sport at the insistence of Asit Pal, a former university level sprinter who runs his own academy. Pal saw the real talent in her and introduced her to javelin throw. Last year, her father Sanjay Karmakar was surprised to get a letter from Sports Authority of India (SAI) inviting Misti to train at the SAI centre in Jalpaiguri, which was a huge relief to the entire family since the necessary expenses would be covered by the ministry.

When Misti returned to Malda after winning gold in Patna, she was welcomed with a gala celebration by the district sports association. A 25-member Indian youth athletics contingent took off to compete at the continental event, which has Misti as one of them too. As a class tenth student of a government school, she had never dreamt of pursuing sports due to minimal income and inaccessibility.

With coaches and well-wisher’s hopeful of a medal at the U-18 Athletics event, a grander celebration could be in store when Misti returns from her first international professional trip. Such heartwarming stories area source of inspiration and give the recognition that is needed. More women players are needed to maintain India’s glory in the women’s domain in Javelin Throw; and someone like the decorated Annu Rani could serve as an ideal for these girls.