Brothers in arms seek a javelin high

Rohan, Rohit and Rahul Yadav are siblings whose talent has took them beyond bamboos spears.

At his first national competition– the National Open Javelin Throw Championships– Rohan Yadav was feeling good about everything. Pacing on the runway of a synthetic track for the first time at the JLN Stadium here, Rohan felt lighter on his feet. Having started with a home-made bamboo spear, he now held a high-quality javelin in his hand. He could feel the adrenaline rush.

From right (Rohit Yadav, Rohan Yadav and Rahul Yadav) (Special Arrangement)

Rohan travelled by train from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, with his elder brother Rahul, who is also a javelin thrower. Egged on by his brother, 15-year-old Rohan finished second in the under-16 category, hurling the javelin to 70.14m in his second attempt. He was not far off the gold medal throw of 71.37m by Mangal Singh, also from Uttar Pradesh. The state is a hub of javelin throwers but lacking in resources.

Rohan started two years ago. He learnt the basics from his brothers. One of them – Rohit Yadav – is among India’s top throwers and holds the national record in under-18 category (81.73m). Rohit is in the group of throwers who train with Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra under German biomechanical expert Dr Klaus Bartonietz at the National Sports Institute in Patiala. But to reach where he is today, Rohit had to traverse a tough route starting at his village Dabhiya in Jaunpur with bamboo javelins and no proper ground and coaches.

“We started javelin throwing together,” says 23-year-old Rahul, the eldest of the three siblings. “Our father is a sportsperson. He was a decathlete when he was studying in university. He still runs the marathon in the veterans’ category. But he wanted us to become javelin throwers and made javelins from bamboo. As kids when we threw it, we were amused by its flight,” said Rahul, who has competed in inter-university events.

That journey started eight years ago on a patch of fallow land near their house. It was the training ground for the Yadav brothers. With the state having so many javelin throwers, it was not difficult to find a thrower who lived nearby to learn the finer points.

“My father taught the basics and then we went to a national level thrower who taught us more. We followed his training methods for the first couple of years,” said Rahul.

Rohit started to make a mark at school and district meets and knew he needed better training to improve. He found a novel way of online coaching and through Amentum Sports, that provides tutorials in javelin, he learnt from Michael Musselman, a former javelin thrower from Peru. Winning a gold medal at the World School Games in 2016 got him noticed. But his career hit a bump when he tested positive for an anabolic steroid at the youth national championship in 2017. He was suspended for a year. Rohit made a strong comeback and set a national record in the U-18 category with a throw of 81.75m.

Now, Rohan aspires to travel down the same road with his brother to guide him.

“Both my brothers were into javelin, so I followed them. Rohit bhaiya teaches me whenever he comes home from national camp, or over phone. I make videos and send it to him and he points out what I need to do,” said Rohan.

Nothing much has changed on the ground though. Rohan still finetunes skills with locally made javelins. “We cannot spend one lakh for range javelins. So, when I got it here, it was a very good feeling. There is no synthetic track anywhere close to where I stay. We have to clear the field after harvest to train. The only way is to improve my throwing and get a call for the national camp,” he said.

“Earlier, villagers used to say, ‘kya bhaala (javelin) phekte rahte ho.’ After Neeraj Chopra, javelin has become a craze. People know the sport. They have started to take interest. But it should translate into resources on the ground. There are still no training grounds, coaches and no financial help,” said Rohan.

Like Rohan, several youngsters came to the championships hoping to get noticed by the talent spotters of the Athletics Federation of India.

“There is a change in our thought process. We have a target in mind,” said Narayan Singh, a thrower from Mathura who won the boys’ under-18 final with a throw of 68.89. Singh trains at an academy in Bajna, Uttar Pradesh. “The target is to throw beyond 80 and for that I need to work hard and get proper facilities. The facilities at the academy are not of a very high standard in terms of equipment, gym etc but at least there is something to train,” said Singh.

AFI used the tournament to scout talents and put them under a national training programme. “There is a lot of talent at the grassroots and our focus is to pick juniors whom we can prepare into good international throwers,” said Bikramjeet Singh, a former thrower, who is also a national coach.