Asian Games 2023: Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Jena could give India historic double podium finish in javelin final

Neeraj Chopra with a personal best of 89.94m leads the field. With no Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) in the line-up, Kishore Jena (personal best of 84.77m) too has a fantastic opportunity to clinch a medal. (File)

It’s strange but true that Arshad Nadeem’s withdrawal from the Asian Games javelin final brought about a peculiar sense of disappointment. On a different scale, it should have set off a chest-thumping nationalistic fervour of a field now open for Olympic and World Champion Neeraj Chopra to just walk in and pick up a gold medal.

It’s been some time now that Pakistan’s Nadeem has caught the fancy of track and field aficionados. A soft-spoken genial giant, the Nadeem Vs Chopra duel over who flings the spear the furthest has caught the fancy of many on both sides of the border and across the athletics world where an India vs Pak athletic pow-wow was never imagined. Neither did anyone ever think of a day where the two best javelin throwers in the world would be from India and Pakistan: The World Championship in Budapest underscoring the point – Chopra picking up a gold with Nadeem taking silver.

It's also a bit inexplicable, and we can turn it anyway we want, that at times we do get startled not only by the success of Neeraj Chopra but largely by the consistency of the man, who seems to love the big stage; the bigger it is, the better he throws.

Apart from that U-20 World Championships, where Chopra arrived, bringing the throw-dive worldwide attention, it was at the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar where he first showed that inner steel, that championship material where he could drag himself back from the precipice. In Bhubaneswar, his first throw was a foul. The release angle and speed not aligned. “I knew I was doing something wrong in my first three throws,” said Chopra. His second and third throws were hugely disappointing, at 78.59m and 78.54m, respectively. Chopra opened the contest with his fourth throw of 83.06m. He clenched his fist, pumped the air, knowing that the rhythm was back. Meanwhile Davinder Singh Kang’s fourth throw, perfectly executed, landed at 83.29m.

Chopra’s fifth was a disappointing 80.99m. Both Kang and Qatar’s Bader Ahmed were ahead. Before landing in Bhubaneswar, Chopra had finished fifth in the Paris Diamond League. He later would say: “At that moment, I knew it had to be the last throw or the gold was gone.” Chopra got the fans working. The rhythmic clap. After a perfect run, the front foot taking the load, it appeared for a split second, that the force was missing. Nobody dared breathe as the arc built up. Chopra knew instantly, as he always does, that this was a Big One. The scoreboard flashed 85.23m. Chopra had delivered when it mattered, his second big win after the U-20.

Also read: Asian Games 2023: India records best ever medal haul, poised to achieve highest gold tally

Building a legacy

Tonight, in Hangzhou, everything points to another Chopra success, retaining the Asian Games gold medal he had won in 2018 in Jakarta. At times when you meet the man, he does talk about legacy, actually points towards it. It’s not just being the Olympic, World and Diamond League champion, punctuated with the Asian Games and other championships that gratify him. At Budapest, he mentioned the history of the Finnish throwers and the greatest of them all – the Czech Jan Zelezny. The Czech won three Olympic golds and a silver plus five world championship medals which includes three gold and two bronze. Chopra strives to achieve a glory that will last. That's one reason why he refuses to take stress about not having breached the 90m mark yet. His conversations with the media have always been about remaining healthy, keeping fit, understanding his own body so he can continue competing, winning medals. The priority for Chopra is winning the gold and if that comes at the expense of not spilling your gut out and achieving a 90m, right away, so be it.

Norwegian javelin star Andreas Thorkildsen speaking about longevity and replicating a throw or a career like Zelezny, offered an interesting insight. The double Olympic champion and four-time World Championship medallist with one gold and three silvers said: “Of course, you cannot ignore Zelezny. He had a different capacity to everyone else. He is probably the most extreme thrower in history. I cannot just copy Zelezny because it won’t suit my body. It would fall apart within two sessions.”

Klaus Bartonietz, Chopra’s coach, mentor, the go-to man, spoke about a nation obsessing about the 90m mark: “We have a general plan on how to develop his performance. He needs to reach the 90m mark and throw over that. He has all these capacities. It’s just some science and some art to bring this out together. Being fast and strong.”

October 4 could be the night, the 90m night. Out of the 14 finalists, eight have thrown over 80m, with Cheng Chao-Tsun of Chinese Taipei the only one to go over 90m with a personal best of 91.36 which came way back in 2017. Since then, he has finished fifth at the 2018 Asian Games. Chopra with a personal best of 89.94 leads the field. With no Nadeem in the line-up, Kishore Jena has a fantastic opportunity to clinch a medal. He has a personal best of 84.77 and a fifth place at the Budapest World Championship to push him on to a bigger throw.

Tranquility, calmness, could be Chopra’s biggest strength here at the Sports Park. An athlete who hasn’t bloated with fame, the Asian Games gold could just be another step in him writing a long-lasting legacy in the sport of javelin.