A few days ago, one felt there were cracks appearing in the country’s exciting javelin world after a chat with German Uwe Hohn.
Hohn, the national javelin throw coach, was fuming about the technique of Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani, both Asian silver medallists. Shivpal’s form was slipping around that time, from a personal best of 86.23m at the Doha Asian meet in April to the season’s low of 76.90 in Poland towards the end of June.
Sivpal does not listen
“No left ‘block’ and Shivpal does not listen (when I try) to change this!” Hohn, the man with the longest throw in history, told The Hindu from Spala, Poland. “Annu also does not listen, that is why she has been throwing only 60m in the last few competitions.”
Blocking is the point during which the thrower is in his delivery stance and the non-throwing side of the body comes to a halt and is locked in place. The block must work efficiently for a good throw. Things appear to have improved, at least in Shivpal’s case.
“Shivpal is doing okay but he has little problems with his right knee. Annu was in good shape but trying way too hard and she does not listen or follow our advice.
And it’s definitely not a language problem,” said Hohn.
Shivpal, currently India’s leading javelin thrower with Asian Games and Commomwealth Games champion Neeraj Chopra recovering from elbow surgery, will be in action in the Motonet Grand Prix in Joensuu, Finland, on Wednesday. And Hohn will be watching the 24-year-old closely.
Better in training
Has he sorted out Shivpal’s block? Is he comfortable with the change in technique? “We will see during the competition, in training it is much better at the moment,” said Hohn.
So, can we expect something like 82m on Wednesday?
“The result will not be the main target, but the technique. He should be able to throw that but we have already started our preparation for Doha and this competition will be direct out of training,” said Hohn, a former world record holder.
He explained that Shivpal’s mediocre throws in the last two meets were due to “fatigue and muscle imbalance”.
In Finland, Shivpal will be up against Estonia’s Magnus Kirt, the only one to throw over 90m this year, and Finland’s 2012 London Olympics silver medallist Antti Ruuskanen. Shivpal has already qualified for this September’s Doha World championships and he appears to be in a hurry to make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I thought I’d go for 85m in Finland but our coach has told me that it should not be the focus now. He says something like 82 or 83 will be good. “The block is a bit better now and my left hand is more close, earlier it was straight.”
