The gritty and resilient Shivpal Singh will sustain India’s link with the IAAF Diamond League this season when he competes with eight of the best contemporary javelin throwers in the Oslo Bislett Games in Norway. It will be an important meet not only from his own exposure point of view but also for Indian track and field sport at large, especially when the last big story that broke out was about M Gomathi testing positive for a banned substance.
Each of the other competitors – four from Germany and one each from Czech Republic, Chinese Taipei, Estonia and Poland — has thrown farther than Shivpal Singh’s personal best of 86.23m which he recorded when winning the Asian Athletics Championships silver medal in Doha on April 22. It would be a wonderful exposure to top-class competition,
The significance of competitive exposure is best articulated by India’s only medallist in the World Athletics Championships, long jumper Anju Bobby George. She laments that the Indians train too hard and hope to go big at the Olympics and World Championships. She believes it is not the best way. She attributes her success to emulating the European and American models of competing.
Shivpal Singh’s maiden Diamond League appearance on June 13 will see him put his skills to test against the 90m club of Andreas Hofmann, Rohler Thomas, Johannes Vetter and Julius Yego. Kirt Magnus and Jakub Vadlejch are not too far either. This can help him be in top competitive shape at the World Championships and perhaps even in the Olympic Games next year.
Hailing from a family of throwers, it was his uncle who encouraged him to take to the javelin. This youngster did not have it easy, with injury constantly hampering his chances – be it in the World junior championships in 2015 or his stiff shoulder after the first throw in the Asian Games in Jakarta last year. And then he was excluded for the Finland trip thereafter.
But he was back for the training camp in Potchefstroom in South Africa where he was pushed to his limits as his training regime got redesigned by Uwe Hohn. Frequent throwing sessions without a build up to the throw made him prone to injuries. And the approach to his training was changed even if he was uncomfortable to begin with.
The coach persisted and trainee’s patience and discipline paid off in the Federation Cup where he threw a personal best of 82.56m and booked a berth for Asian Championships. In Doha, he finally gave an indication that he needed to be taken seriously. A throw of 86.23m, just 50cm short of gold, secured him a World Championships berth.
The coach is confident that Shivpal Singh will breach the 90m mark. Now that his underdog days are behind him, can his coach’s confidence in him be shared by everyone else? His debut in the Diamond League in Oslo, the world series for athletics, will give us an indication of his progress and his desire to be among the elite.
Come to think of it, India’s hope at the athletics carnival continues to be elusive as diamonds themselves, save for Vikas Gowda. The Mysore-born America-based discus thrower was the first Indian to make a podium finish in the New York leg of the 2012 season. He went on to finish fourth overall in the 2014 season, thanks to his silver in Doha. He followed that up with a bronze in the Shanghai leg the next year.
Luckily, when Vikas Gowda retired, India has found hope with the Javelin throwers. World Youth Champion, Neeraj Chopra kick-started his Diamond League chapter in 2017 finishing an overall seventh with a best throw of 84.67m. He rose to overall fourth in 2018 with a best of 87.43m, though a podium finish has evaded him.
Neeraj Chopra’s Diamond League season in 2018 was interrupted by the Asian Games in Jakarta, scheduled between the Birmingham leg and the finals in t Zurich. He made the best use of the platform in Jakarta by clinching gold with a personal best of 88.06m and a National Record at the Asian Games.
But now with Neeraj Chopra is in rehabilitation after a surgery to remove chipped bones from his elbow, Shivpal Singh has shown that he can move from the shadows and go the distance. The question is: can he break into the elusive 90m club?
