Odisha connect to Neeraj Chopra's glory

BHUBANESWAR: As Neeraj Chopra threw his hands up, having scripted history by winning India’s first ever gold medal in athletics at the Olympics, R Vineel Krishna, the commissioner-cum-secretary of the state sports department, was ecstatic. It was just a few months back that he had interacted with the javelin thrower while he was training at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar between December last year and February, 2021, as part of his preparations in the run-up to Tokyo.
“I saw Neeraj at the stadium. He always seemed calm and composed and trained with great focus. It was inspirational for all our young athletes to see a sporting icon, a champion, train with so much dedication,” recollected Krishna, who was then director, sports.

The 23-year-old trained here for more than two months along with other elite javelin throwers like Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani, both of whom could not qualify for the finals. They were led by coaches Uew Hohn and Dr Klaus.
“Had a great time training at the Kalinga Stadium here in Bhubaneswar. Now looking forward to getting some competition experience under the belt,” Neeraj had tweeted on February 13. The javelin team, including Neeraj, had also visited the Eco Retreat in Konark for a day during the training period.
State sports minister Tusharkanti Behera said Odisha feels connected to Neeraj’s immense glory. “During the camp, the state government had allowed access to all facilities, including the sports science centre, to the javelin team. They had heaped praises on the world-class infrastructure and facilities at the Kalinga stadium complex. The team also appreciated the support and hospitality extended by the state government,” Behera said.
The sports minister said as per the vision of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Odisha has been creating world-class sports infrastructure in various disciplines and the government will continue to extend various facilities to athletes of the country. Naveen took to Twitter to congratulate Neeraj for his gold medal.
“A golden throw! Congratulations #NeerajChopra on historic first-ever track & field #Gold medal for India in #Javelin throw at #Tokyo2020. The country is so proud of you. With this, you took India to its highest ever medal tally at the #Olympics. You will inspire generations,” Naveen tweeted.