Jena not thinking of Oly debut, focused on Diamond meet
Times of India | 21 February 2024
Kolkata: Kishore Kumar Jena couldn’t have hoped for a better season last year as he finished fifth in the World Championships and then grabbed silver in Asian Games with a throw of 87.54m. It wasn’t only his personal best but it also helped him beat the Olympic qualification mark of 85.5m and qualify for the Paris Olympics.
And with Olympics just about five months away, Kishore is sweating it out now with his coach Samarjeet Singh Malhi and physio Mayur Kumar Thakkar at the Performance Centre in Gold Coast Australia since February 5.
“We are doing general preparation at the moment and working on increasing strength and power all throughout the body. We are giving load and once he recovers, we are increasing it again,” said coach Malhi during an exclusive interaction with TOI.
As far as Jena is concerned, he is more than pleased with his training Down Under where the weather has been just perfect. But he isn’t thinking about the Olympics yet. His plan is to begin the season at the Diamond League meet scheduled for May 10 in Doha and his focus currently is on that.
“The training has been really good so far and the climate is great. I am taking it day by day and sticking to the schedule that has been chalked up by my coach,” said Jena, for whom it’s the first training stint outside the country.
But Jena, like his coach, isn’t targeting any specific mark. Last season, Jena kept bettering his record throughout the year and made as many as seven 80m-plus throws. “I am not putting any pressure on him but the target is to achieve another personal best,” said Malhi. “To make sure he is able to do that, we are working on his block and to better that it’s important to improve his strength.”
However, after grabbing the silver behind India’s golden boy Neeraj Chopra during the Asiad in Hangzhou, Jena’s performance dropped in the National Games where his best throw was just 78.47m. It wasn’t up to his expected standards but with the season coming to an end and with all the commitments outside the game, it wasn’t too much of a shock.
And keeping that in mind the coach has also been working with Jena on the mental aspect of the game more these days. “It wasn’t always easy to remain focused back in the country. Here there is no disturbance and is able to stay more focused,” added the coach.
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