Done with Asian Games qualification, javelin star Kishore Kumar Jena eyes World Championships berth next

He achieved a PB of 82.87m at the Inter-State Championships.

Odisha's promising athlete Kishore Kumar Jena recently claimed the silver medal in javelin throw at the Inter-State Athletics Championships 2023 with a personal best throw of 82.87m. With this performance, the 27-year-old is placed 30th in the Road to Budapest World Championships rankings. Kishore Jena's first major breakthrough came in the year 2021, when he won his first national title at the 3rd National Open Javelin Throw Championships with a best attempt of 74.26m — his then personal best. Since 2021, he has breached his PB several times, most recently being at the Inter-states.

The 27-year-old iterated on his performance, "I had a very good time taking part in the Inter-State Athletics Championships. Although the temperature was on the higher side, I did not face any difficulty, rather was looking to throw big and in the end secured the Asian Games mark set by AFI."

Early career

Kishore Kumar Jena started his career as a volleyball player, but soon shifted to javelin. "In Volleyball you need good hand power, which is the same for javelin as well. Coach Nilamadav Deo wanted me to pursue javelin, as he thought I may excel well in the sport. Personally, even I loved javelin after seeing it for the first time at a competition and from there my journey started."

Kishore Kumar first breached the 70m mark in 2018, and for a brief period of three years, he couldn't achieve anything substantial.

"I did not have a dedicated coach during that phase (2018-2021), as my coach used to handle all the throw events (discus throw, javelin throw etc). Also, I did not have proper knowledge about what I needed to change to better my performance. In an athlete's career, there are always ups and downs and I was never let down, rather knew that I would make a good comeback."

As mentioned earlier, the athlete from Odisha achieved his previous personal best mark (76.41m) in 2021 at the National Open Championships. "I changed my technique in 2021 and started to take smaller run ups than usual and also worked on positioning during the throws. I have always taken care of my strength and conditioning. However, it was only the technique which I had to work on and eventually I emerged with a PB throw," Jena added.

"I am associated with Simarjeet Singh, who is currently the national coach, for the past two years. He helped me change the technique which proved to be beneficial."

Road Ahead

"I joined Odisha Reliance Foundation High-Performance centre three to four months back and they have taken good care of me. Before, I did not have much idea on the supplements and the diet, but now I have started concentrating on them along with working more on the strength and conditioning side."

After breaching the Asian Games mark set by AFI, Kishore Kumar Jena now hopes to qualify for the World Championships by taking part in few foreign meets which provide high ranking points that will help him qualify via the World Rankings route.

According to the World Athletics website, a total of four athletes can qualify from a country taking wildcard into consideration. With Neeraj Chopra already securing a berth, India can at maximum send three more javelin throwers.

"Going forward my next aim will be getting close to the 87m or 88m which I feel is achievable. Having breached the 80m mark is itself special and I hope to go further with constant support and backing. Next up, I will be travelling abroad to take part in few competitions which offers higher ranking points, ultimately enabling me to qualify for World Athletics Championships."