Kishore Kumar Jena, the javelin throw rising star of Odisha, won the gold medal with a new personal best (PB) of 84.38m at the Sri Lanka National Athletics Championship at the Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo today. India achieved double delight in the event with Shivpal Singh securing silver medal with a throw of 77.36m.

Jena bettered his previous personal best of 82.87m which he had achieved at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar on 19 June 2023. He broke the 80m barrier for the fourt time this season.

This was among the 10th best throw in the world this year and second best in Asia. With is effort, Jena improved his chances to compete at the World Athletics Championship to be held in Budapest, Hungary from 19 to 27 August 2023.

Employee of Central Industrial Security Force, Jena is in the top-10 in the world lists this season (current lists, may evolve over the next few days or weeks). Praising Jena for his lastest achievement, Indian javelin superstar and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra tweeted, “Good throw Kishore, keep going”.

PERFORMANCE PROGRESSION OF KISHORE JENA:
2017: 65.88m
2018: 70.64m
2019: 68.58m
2020: 68.97m
2021: 76.41m
2022: 78.05m
2023: (Up to July 28): 84.38m

BEST FIVE EFFORTS OF INDIAN JAVELIN THROWERS:
1. Neeraj Chopra - 89.94m
2. Shivpal Singh - 86.23m
3. Davinder Singh - 84.57m
4. Kishore Jena - 84.38m
5. DP Manu - 84.35m