KING OF SPEARS

Coach says elastic body and hand speed did the trick for Neeraj

New Delhi, Aug. 8: He hadn’t quite made the cut but Neeraj Chopra’s gymnast-like flexible body and fast hand speed were enough for national athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair to recommend the then 17year-old for the national camp where bio-mechanics expert Dr Klaus Bartonietz honed his technique which gave India its maiden Olympics gold medal in athletics.

The 23-year-old Haryana-lad beat a world-class field to notch up India’s first gold in 13 years on Saturday night in Tokyo.

And Nair recalled the time when he was impressed by Chopra’s skills even though the youngster had finished fifth during the 2015 National Games.

Recommending a fifthplace finisher for the national camp was unusual but Nair, an experienced World Athletics Level-5 coach, did that and it turned out to be a momentous call as Chopra scripted history.

“I saw him during 2015 National Games in Kerala. His muscles were very elastic and he was flexible like a gymnast. He has a very fast hand speed of release (of javelin),” Nair said.

“His technique was not that good at that time but bio-mechanics expert Dr Klaus (Bartonietz) has made a lot of changes in his technique and Gary Calvert (Chopra’s former coach) also has done a lot of work with Chopra,” he added.

This was the time Chopra was training at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium at Panchkula where he shifted from Shivaji Stadium at Panipat in 2012.

Nair then had a word with Athletics Federation of India Planning Commission Chairman Lalit Bhanot and took Chopra to the national camp at NIS Patiala despite the youngster finishing fifth with a throw of 73.45m.

“We used to consider the top three for inclusion in the national camp. Neeraj was fifth in the final but from what I saw, I knew that he will throw beyond 80m in two years.

“So, I recommended him for the national camp and Chopra joined.”

Nair’s prediction came true and at the fag end of that year itself, Chopra breached the 80m mark during Indian University Championships in Patiala with a throw of

81.04m.

Once in the national camp, Chopra rose consistently as he won the South Asian Games in Guwahati in February

2016 with a throw of

82.23m.

Then came late Australian Gary Calvert as his coach and within one year of joining the national camp, Chopra created history by winning the junior world championships in July

2016 in Poland with a big throw of 86.48m.

Chopra’s world junior record still stands.—