Hard yards to glory: Kishore Jena, Neeraj Chopra, and DP Manu's journey to javelin

Kishore Jena, DP Manu and world champ Neeraj Chopra travelled different and difficult paths, but now, javelin throwing is what they have in common

Kishore Jena is a late bloomer, who switched to javelin from volleyball due to his short stature, while DP Manu, was a fast-bowler before his initiation into javelin. Having eventually estwablished themselves as India’s top javelin throwers, they now have one thing in common: to emulate Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra.

Jena, Manu and Chopra created Indian athletics history on Sunday, finishing in the top six at the World Championships. Jena (84.77m) finished fifth, while Manu (84.14m) ended sixth in Sunday’s final here, which Chopra won.

Born to a paddy farmer’s family at Kothasahi village in Odisha’s Puri district, Jena, 27, was initially a volleyball player, but left it because of his short height of 5-feet-8 inches. He needed a certificate to get admission to a sports hostel in Bhubaneswar but when he did not get that, he shifted to javelin. 

The big move

In 2015, he moved to a sports hostel in Bhubaneswar and began training under a local coach when he was around 20, which is quite late. 

He then shifted base to Bhopal and joined the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in 2016 but till 2020, he was struggling to throw 70m consistently. However, joining the national camp in Patiala changed everything as he came under Samarjeet Singh Malhi. “I changed him from 14 steps to 16, 18 and then to 20 [in runway]. Now he is throwing at 23 steps. It was difficult, I had to do slowly with him,” Malhi said.

Manu, a coffee plantation farmer’s son at Belur village in Hassan district of Karnataka, played cricket as a fast bowler and also enjoyed volleyball in his school days. 

Bamboo for starters

But one day, his physical education teacher told him to try javelin throw. As the school did not have a proper javelin, Manu began with a spear made of bamboo. Coach Kashinath Naik saw him at the Khelo India Youth Games in 2019, where he was throwing around 65m and was underweight, and took him under his wings at the Army Sports Institute [Pune]. 

“He [Manu] was from a poor background and in South India there are no proper javelin coach and facilities. So, he began with javelin made of bamboo. I saw him at the Khelo India Youth Games in 2019. He was throwing just around 65m at that time,” Naik said.

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