Javelin stars move to Bengaluru

Karam Prakash

Chandigarh, September 24

India’s elite javelin throwers have shifted their base permanently from Patiala’s National Institute of Sports to the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru. Eleven top throwers and foreign coach, Garry Calvert, who has been training this bunch since February this year, have relocated to Bengaluru.

This is the first time since 2003 that India’s javelin throwers would be training in Bengaluru. Bengaluru was selected by Calvert after he decided that the team wasn’t able to train “properly” in Patiala. But what was the exact reason behind the move? “There were too much disturbances in the training at Patiala,” Calvert said. “Our training was being affected by the other athletes in the national camps.” These athletes in the other camps, according to Calvert, were “less focused and sincere”.

Another probable reason for the shift was the overcrowding on the only athletics track at NIS, due to the non-completion of renovation work on the second athletics track.

The weather was also a factor because Patiala faces extreme weather conditions in both winter and summer, which affects the training of the athletes. On the other hand, Bengaluru has pleasant and moderate climate throughout the year, and this enables the athletes to practice for longer sessions there. “It will improve the performances of the athletes by 20 percent,” said Calvert.

Calvert said he had requested the Athletics Federation of India that he wanted to work in some isolation for better training of his wards. Calvert and his team are training hard for the 56th Open Senior Nationals (September 27 to 30) in Lucknow.

According to Calvert, Neeraj Chopra, who holds the national record, is building up slowly for next year’s athletics World Championships while Davinder, Ravinder and Shivpal are doing well too and have started throwing above the 80m mark consistently.