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          Asian Games: Neeraj wins gold, Kishore silver; their 'battle' wins hearts and minds

          Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena finished a historic 1-2 in the men's javelin throw event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
          • Anirudh Menon
          Oct 4, 2023, 02:30 PM

          Neeraj Chopra arched his back, stretched that throwing arm, took a deep breath. It's a routine India is familiar with now: the slow start, the run-up to build momentum, the throw hurling the javelin farther than any Indian ever has. With the crowd applauding him like he was a local hero, he did it for his first throw at the Asian Games. And immediately everyone knew he'd thrown it big. The TV markers indicated that it had landed near the 86-87m mark. The clearer indicator, though, was Chopra letting out a roar at the same time as he let go the javelin, and the slow, knowing turn before the javelin even landed -- hands raised, fingers pointing towards the sky. He does that, and it's invariably a gold-winning throw.

          Except this time it wasn't.

          Kuwait's Abdulrahman Alazemi threw before he was supposed to, before they had formally measured Chopra's throw, and after a ridiculous delay - where Chopra alternated between trying to keep warm and trying to get some information from officials - he had to do the whole thing again.

          This time he hit 82.38m. Good, but nowhere near Chopra level. In the second attempt he hit 84.49m. His third was a foul throw. Head down, muttering to himself, Chopra's reaction after each of those throws showed a side of him we hadn't really seen all that much before. Frustrated, more than a little angry, annoyed.

          And then up stepped Kishore Kumar Jena.

          Little known before this year, Jena had had a brilliant 2023. He'd flown to the World Championships with Chopra, and while the latter won gold, he'd finished a superb fifth on debut. He'd come to the Asian Games as more of a third wheel, everyone excited about the prospect of Chopra going head-to-head again with Worlds silver medalist Arshad Nadeem. When the Pakistani pulled out with an injured knee, everyone gave up on the event. Chopra would throw an unreal distance and someone else, probably Jena, would come second. Meh.

          He'd been in second position when he got set for his third throw, right after Chopra had fouled out. He sprinted up to the mark, hurled himself to the floor with the sheer violence of his throw, and saw the javelin fly. And fly. Soaring past 80m, past 84.49m, smacking into the ground at 86.77m.

          Personal best by a margin: but what was even more stunning was the leaderboard:

          1. Kishore Kumar Jena

          2. Neeraj Chopra

          So incomprehensible that the commentators on broadcast, primed for Chopra to win, called it a "spanner in the works". Jena himself looked like he couldn't quite believe it, standing up from where he'd fallen to stare open-mouthed at the javelin. The moment he turned, he was given a bear hug by Chopra.

          Chopra had been by Jena's side earlier too, urging him to argue with the officials when they wrongly fouled Jena out in the second throw and was first here again: Illustrious champion celebrating this most unexpected success of his direct competitor is not a sight we see often in Indian sport, but that's just who Chopra is. The joy he felt was pure. "I was most happy for Jena," he would say after the event, and you believed him.

          But what Jena's fantastic throw also did was wake up something deep within Chopra. You don't become your country's first ever Olympic track and field champion, or first ever World Champion, by taking competition lying down. Embrace competition, sure, but also beat it.

          With the throwers in descending order of ranks, Chopra went second last for his fourth attempt. The mix-up of the first throw had clearly disconcerted him, and with Jena's remarkable throw creating tension, the pressure was all on him. The pre-throw rituals seemed minimal this time, the run-up more focused intent. After the throw he let out a roar, but did not turn, glaring at the javelin as it flew, letting it know that 86.77m had to be passed. And so, it listened, as it always does. Only once it landed at 88.88m did he do the traditional turn-and-index-fingers-in-the-air and even then, he wasn't smiling. The glare remained.

          It screamed, through pursed lips: 'This jungle has only one king, and that is me.'

          Jena responded: not wilting, in fact going one better than he had in his third, hurling it a remarkable 87.54m (just 4cms short of the mark that had won Chopra Olympic glory) - the furthest any Indian not named Neeraj Chopra had ever thrown a javelin. He had led Chopra; he had almost caught him again. The smile wouldn't fall off his face for anything.

          With the remaining two throws being mere formalities, and Roderick Genki Dean in third being around 5m behind, the two Indians celebrated together; Chopra insisting on Jena joining him while they posed with the Indian flag wrapped around those massive shoulders and later pulling the gold-medal winning 4x400m men into the tricolour lined group hug.

          As remarkable as the relays had been though, the men's javelin stole the show on Wednesday evening. Kishore Kumar Jena went from third wheel to genuine competitor and with him lifted Neeraj Chopra to greater heights.

          After he won the world championships earlier this year, Chopra had said he was not done, because why not repeat the cycle. So, the greatest athlete India has seen has started on that quest. What he won in 2018 has been defended in 2023. In some style too, thanks to an unheralded former volleyball player from Odisha.