In line-up with Neeraj Chopra

The last two athletics meets have been life-changing for me. With gold medals in the men’s javelin competitions in Lebanon and Sri Lanka, I am looking forward to represent India at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest later this month. This would, no doubt, be the biggest stage where I will get a chance to perform. It is every athlete’s dream to perform in bigger stadiums and tournaments but I have never actually given it a thought. Maybe, because I am grateful for whatever I have achieved as a late bloomer in the sport.

My switch to javelin was unintentional. I wanted to be a volleyball player but because of my height, the chances of making a career in the sport were next to impossible. I was in the Bhubaneswar Sports Hostel when my coach Nilamadev Deo asked me to switch to javelin after he came to know that I had dabbled in the sport in school. The year was 2014. I was woefully unaware of the intricacies of the sport. Neither had I any idea about its equipment.

I was practising once and slipped on the turf and grazed my thigh. I was told that my training would only resume after I started wearing spikes. Till then, I had never worn spikes. I was scared of the nails it had. The sports hostel would give three spikes to trainees in a season. These would roughly cost over Rs 3,500. I used the entire budget to get a branded pair for myself. I still have that. This is not superstition. These are special. They remind me of the old times.

I have come a long way since then. My throws are keeping me in the competition and I am enjoying my time. There have been many ups and downs this season for me. It started well when I registered my personal best of 78.93m at the National throws meet in Bellary, Karnataka, at the beginning of the year. I bettered it to 81.05m in Thiruvananthapuram in March. This was also the first time I crossed 80m. However, things began to slide a little after that. But I recovered well to throw 84.38m to win the National Athletics Championships in Sri Lanka in July.

I was elated when I got a text from Neeraj Chopra, congratulating me on my success and wishing me luck for the next competition. He is India’s best. As an Olympic champion, he is the world’s best now. When someone like Neeraj Bhai messages you, it means you are doing the right thing in the sport.

Interestingly, the next tournament is the World Athletics Championships where I will get to compete against him as well. We will have three throwers in the competition — me, Manu DP and Neeraj Chopra. We could have fielded four players but, unfortunately, Rohit Yadav got injured. My only aim there is to first qualify for the finals — to cross the qualifying mark and see to it that I am part of the final line-up. I have never set a throw target for myself but my present coach, Samarjeet Singh Malhi, always insists that I should stay focused on the throw technique and try to recreate everything we had trained for on competition days.

Hopefully, we will return from the championship happy and proud.

— As told to Vinayak Padmadeo