Kishore Kumar Jena wins first National Javelin Throw Championships title

Haryana's Deepika created a new national under-16 record at the event.

Kishore Kumar Jena (Odisha) came up with the three best throws to dominate the men’s final in the third National Open Javelin Throw Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

The 26-year-old won his maiden National Javelin Throw Championships title with a 74.26m effort on his second attempt while Harish Kumar (Rajasthan) and seasoned Vipin Kasana (Delhi) took silver and bronze with their fifth and sixth throws respectively. Vijay Lakra (Jharkhand) moved out of the medal bracket after he looked good for a podium place until Vipin Kasana’s last-ditch try.

Uma Choudhary (Rajasthan), second in the National U23 Championships here last month, claimed her maiden national-level gold medal with a best throw of 46.41m on her final attempt in the women’s competition. Her opening throw of 45.30m was good enough to secure the title none of the other competitors crossed the 45m on a rain-swept afternoon at the National Javelin Throw Championships.

While Manu Kumari (Uttar Pradesh) beat Haryana’s Priyanka by a mere centimeter to the silver medal, Shilpa Rani (Haryana), who is in India’s Top 10 List this season, missed the chance to pick up her third successive medal in the National Javelin Throw Championships after bronze in 2018 and silver in 2019. She was left disappointed in sixth place with a best effort of 44.11.

Haryana’s Deepika improved on her own Girls U16 National Record with an opening throw of 49.31m. Though she had only three legal efforts, Deepika’s throws of 43.69 and 46.93 were better than all the marks that her State-mates Manisha and Sapna managed. The trio was the only bunch of athletes in the category who went past the 40m mark.

Deepika was expected to win the U16 crown as she had claimed gold in the Girls U20 category in the Federation Cup Junior Championships in Sangrur on August 2 this year with a throw of 49.28m.

Mangal Singh, the youngest in the Boys U16 category, claimed top honours at the National Javelin Throw Championships with a 71.37m throw on his second try. Rohan Yadav caught the eye with consistency and his best of 70.14m on the second attempt gave him the silver medal while Gaurav Patel ensured that Uttar Pradesh lad would take all three places on the podium with a 66.68m throw to edge out Arjun (Delhi).

Jay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) was the most consistent of Boys U20 throwers, each of his six throws being better than any of the efforts by the nine others. He went past the 70m mark twice, with 70.72m on third try being his best. Vivek Kumar (Madhya Pradesh) and Vinit (Haryana) made their way to the podium with good efforts in their fourth and fifth tries respectively at the National Javelin Throw Championships.

Fourth in the National Junior Championship this year, Shakshi Sharma (Uttar Pradesh) won the Girls U20 crown here. She was on top from the first round itself when she sent the spear over 42.63m. Shakshi raised it to 46.29m on her fourth try to ensure that she would add the U20 prize to the Girls U18 gold she won in the inaugural edition in 2018.

Sheetal (Haryana), a NIDJAM U16 silver medalist in 2019, came up with a 44.30m effort on her last try to vault past State-mate and National U20 Champion Jyoti (43.61) for the silver at the National Javelin Throw Championships.

Komal (Uttar Pradesh) also led from start to finish in the Girls U18 final, opening with a throw of 43.09m and furthering the distance to 44.70 on her fifth attempt. Though her State-mate Pratiksha Patel gave her final throw all she had, she fell short by 15cm but that was good to lift her from third position to silver medal ahead of the 41.09 effort by Himanshi (Haryana).\

Narayan Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and Sujit (Haryana) took the top two spots in the Boys U18 final at the National Javelin Throw Championships, surprising Uttar Pradesh throwers Rahul Yadav and Anand Singh who led in the qualifying on Saturday. Both Narayan Singh and Sujit went past the 68m mark with only 51cm separating the two.

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