India’s Javelin sensation, Kishore Jena, had his share of struggles before clinching a silver at the Asiad and turning popular overnight!
Taking the world in the awe of his stunning performance, Odia athlete Kishore Jena scripted history by clinching a silver medal in the Men’s Javelin throw at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. A resident of Kothasahi in Puri district, Jena secured the medal with a personal best throw of 87.54m.
The javelin silver medalist Jena has also qualified for Paris 2023 Olympics. But all of this wasn’t a cakewalk. There is an interesting story pf hard work and struggles behind the success of Kishore. His father Keshav Jena, took a loan of 28 thousand rupees to purchase a javelin for his son. Kishore played without a coach. He believes that his reaching such a big stage from a poor family is only God’s blessing.
After winning a silver, in an interview to a web portal, he said: “I just want my family to be debt-free.” Jena, was initially a volleyball player. But, he had to leave it because of his short height of 5 feet 8 inches.
Kishore was born in a farmer’s family in Kothasahi village in the Brahmagiri area of Puri district. After completion of his graduation from Brahmagiri College, he played football and volleyball to make his career and get a job. He was initially a volleyball player but he had to leave it because of his short height. Then he played javelin without a coach.
The State Athletics Championship was held at the Puri Indoor Stadium 6 years ago. He performed well and got an identification. But he was unable to purchase a javelin for practice. He asked his father for Rs 28,000 to buy the Javelin. To fulfil his son’s wish, the father collected money from various women’s associations and bought a javelin with Rs. 28000.
Jena never gave off his Javelin. He brought his Javelin to the village when he returned from Bhubaneswar to practice at Brahmagiri College playground and returned to the hostel on Monday morning. He has qualified for the Olympics because of his hard work, enthusiasm and courage since childhood. After joining the CISF, Kishore also paid off the loan amount which was brought to purchase his Javelin.
At Budapest, Jena had his first true international outing. He was there in Sri Lanka in July but the World Athletics Championship was a whole new experience. In the eight years of his being a javelin thrower, he had practised and competed on synthetic tracks. At Budapest, he found himself on a slippery ground as he had to play on a Mondo track. The spikes of his footwear did not hold on to the track.
That’s when Javelin star Neeraj Chopra came to his rescue, offering Kishore a new set of spikes. “Neeraj Bhai’s help came as a gift from God,” he had told in an interview to a leading newspaper.
The turning point in his life 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 told a newspaper.
His mental state and preparations always arrested him below the 75m mark. He did not even think about it. One day coach Jagbir told him that he would recommend Kishore for the national camp at Patiala if he went past the 75m mark. Battling several odds, he in the Inter-state meet at Chennai threw 77m and got selected for the national camp in 2021.Since, he never looked back.
Milestones
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
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