When Odisha opened its arms to Neeraj & Co amid COVID lockdown

BHUBANESWAR:  Neeraj Chopra’s 87.58 m throw landed in history at Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, leaving a billion Indians in jubilation.

His road to sporting greatness did pass through Odisha when Covid pandemic was raging in India and the national javelin team was unable to go overseas for training due to the travel restrictions last year.

With the Tokyo Olympic not very far, preparation was for the marquee event was key but providing a safe training space was a challenge.

The Athletic Federation of India requested Odisha Government to conduct a special javelin throw camp at Kalinga Stadium.

Like it has shown in last several years, Odisha was game for the task. All arrangements were made for Chopra and fellow athletes Shivpal Singh, Annu Rani and their supporting staff.

The javelin team went back immensely satisfied.

“The infrastructure here is of international standard. We had a quality training time before the Olympics which will definitely help me in Tokyo,” the javelin champion had told The New Indian Express before leaving Bhubaneswar.

The Sports and Youth Services Department of Odisha Government prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for training with safety of the squad as topmost priority.

The December 2020-February 2021 training camp went perfectly, without a hiccup.

The man with the golden arm, Chopra will also have special memories of Odisha because it is here in Kalinga Stadium he had bagged the Gold at the Asian Athletics Championships 2017.