Cuttack (Odisha)
As he watched Kishore Kumar Jena mount the podium in Hangzhou China on October 5, 2023, to claim his silver medal, Laxman Baral, (an Odisha state champion in Javelin in 1996), couldn’t help but remember the day in 2013, when he watched the young man playing volleyball with his friends. In the finals, Neeraj Chopra, famed Indian javelin thrower made a season-best throw of 88.88 metres, while Jena threw a personal best of 87.54m.
Baral thought to himself that the young Kishroe Kumar would make a fine javelin thrower. Ever since then, Kishore has been practising, preparing and honing his skill that would get him to the sports arena in Hangzhou, China.
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Baral gifted him with a hand-made javelin of bamboo that cost no more than Rs. 250. “I watched him practise and noticed that Kishore threw his javelin much further than I ever did. I had covered 53 metres at my best, but this boy threw over 60 meters,” 45-year-old Baral, told Gaon Connection. And that was the beginning of the young Kishore’s tryst with javelin. When he began he was a college student at Alarnath Dandamulak Mohavidyalaya in Brahmagiri, Puri district, Odisha.
Kishore took everyone by surprise when he switched from volleyball to javelin. But it was destiny, they say now. “He did not make the cut because of his height. A professional volleyball player has to be at least 1.80 metres, but Kishore was 1.76 metres tall,” recalled Rupanwita Panda, senior athletics coach who was in charge of Kalinga Stadium’s sports hostel, where Kishore stayed in 2015.
“We advised him to try his skill in Javelin, and he proved his mettle,” Panda told Gaon Connection.
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There is jubilation at the Puri Athletics Association (PAA). “We are offering our thanksgiving to Lord Jagannath and praying to him that Kishore wins the gold at the forthcoming Paris Olympics in 2024,” Rabi Shankar Prathihari, PAA secretary, told Gaon Connection.
The road to the silver medal has not been smooth for the 28-year-old Kishore, but his family has stood by him and ensured he could follow his dreams.
Kishore being felicitated by felicitated by Puri District Administration
Kishore has six older sisters. While he was studying and playing, they gave tuitions to children and did some tailoring to augment the family income. Keshaba Jena, his father owned an acre and a half of land where he grew paddy but had to sell that off to marry off his daughters.
“Kishore’s father met with an accident in 2015 that partially paralysed him,” Itishree Sundara, his cousin, told Gaon Connection. Kishore’s father had to take a loan of Rs 28, 000 to keep the hearth burning and keep his son in college and hostel. The loan has since been cleared by Kishore once he joined the Central Industrial Security Force through the sports quota in 2018.
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Aiming high in 2023
- He won the gold at the 101st Sri Lankan Championship in Diyagama in July
- Finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest in Hungary in August
- He won the gold at the Indian Grand Prix in Chandigarh in September
- Won the silver at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, qualifying him for the Paris Olympics next year
The Puri District Administration sent a congratulatory message to Kishore after he walked off with Silver in the Asian Games. “Who knew that the soft-spoken Kishore would one day create a flutter in the national and international arena,” smiled Chandan Sahoo, District Sports Officer.
“I don’t know anything about sports and games, but I know my son has made me proud,” Harapriya Jena. the 78-year-old mother of Kishore told Gaon Connection.
