Yashvir Singh, the 80m man adding to India’s javelin depth

The Rajasthan thrower, 21, is the latest Indian to cross 80m. He feels intense competition will push him to improve in an event made famous by Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic gold

Neeraj Chopra smashed several national marks across age groups on his way to the top, and any youngster bettering his mark will naturally come into the spotlight. That’s how Yashvir Singh came into focus in January last year after breaking Chopra’s meet record in the U-20 Federation Cup.

With a throw of 82.13m, Yashvir Singh joined India’s 80m club

Yashvir, 20, has now stepped up in an important season, going past the 80m mark to win the javelin event at the Indian Grand Prix-4 in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. With a throw of 82.13m, he joined India’s 80m club, finishing ahead of a member of that elite group, Rohit Yadav (80.88m), and clearing the qualification standard for the Commonwealth Games and the (postponed) Asian Games.

Chopra’s Tokyo Olympic success is inspiring the younger lot. Yashvir is the third Indian this season, after Rohit (81.83m) and DP Manu (82.43), to hurl the spear over the 80m. The distance gives recognition as an international class thrower, although Chopra, whose national mark is 88.07m, targets 90m this season.

“There is healthy competition among the throwers,” says Yashvir. “Neeraj is my motivation too and he has lifted the javelin standards. When there is strong competition in domestic meets, you put that much more effort,” said the 21-year-old who was in the India camp last year with Chopra.

Yashvir also finished second to Chopra in the senior Federation Cup meet last year, though Chopra’s best was 87.80m and Yashvir managed only 79.31m.

Hailing from Rajasthan, he belongs to a family of athletes. His father Rai Singh was a national level javelin thrower and is his coach. He took up javelin as a 14-year-old, dashing his father’s plans to send Yashvir to Rashtriya Military School in Ajmer.

“I sent him to Delhi for two years, put him into coaching to prepare for the Military School but he was weak in studies. I realised it was better to introduce him to sports,” says Rai Singh.

The family comes from Devsar in Bhiwani, Haryana. The town is known for boxing but he was a coach in Railways and was posted in Jaipur. “It’s all about boxing in my village. There are five boxing coaches and two Olympians (Jitender and Manish Kaushik, who competed in Tokyo), Singh proclaims.

For the family itself, it has always been track and field. His father was a 400m hurdler and his brother is a hurdler and with the Railways. He introduced both his sons, Yashvir and Utsav—he is also a javelin thrower, competing in the U-18 category.

“Boxing was never in the mind. In Jaipur, the Railways Throws Academy is a good facility to train. We have good javelins, a grassy ground and an air-conditioned hall. I used to compete in the 1990s and quit in 2006. In our times, there was no facility, no proper spikes, physio. Forget all that, we didn’t even have good javelins to train. God forbid, if you are injured, it could spell the end of your career because there was no expertise in sports injuries.”

Yashvir doesn’t have to bother about all that. He even has a sponsor he got after breaking Chopra’s U-18 mark.

“That was a big moment for us. Yashvir got all the attention, and also a sponsor.”