How Kishore Jena is the perfect athlete to take Neeraj Chopra's legacy forward at world level?

India displayed a historical performance at the 2022 Asian Games and won a total of 107 medals which also included 28 gold medals. India won the most medals in the athletics category, with the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Kumar Jena, Avinash Sable, Harmilan Bains shining. India was expected to win medals in categories such as shooting, badminton, wrestling and kabaddi, but with the Indian players shining in the track and field events, this is a very good sign for other aspiring sports enthusiasts.  

3 things you need to know 

• India won a total of 70 medals in the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta
• The 2022 Asian Games was India's best performance in the history of the Asiad 
• With Indian athletes shining in almost every event in the 2022 Asian Games, Indian fans will expect them to repeat the same performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics

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How Kishore Jena can be the next Neeraj Chopra? 

It was javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra who inspired the other Indian athletes to do well at the international level in the track and field category. Neeraj won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which was the first by any Indian after Abhinav Bindra in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since then India has been able to produce many aspiring athletes such as Jyothi Yarraji, Avinash Sable, the Indian men's 4x100 relay team and Kishore Jena. 

Kishore Jena can be India's next Kishore Jena after his brilliant performance at the 2022 Asian Games. At one point Jena had put his contention to win a gold in the Javelin throw event and at last won a silver with a throw of distance 84.77m in the World Athletics Championships 2023 held in Budapest. 

ALSO READ | Asian Games: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails India's historic achievement

Kishore Jena's rise to glory 

Kishore Jena's family took a loan of INR 28,000 so that he could learn about the sport and for years Jena played without a coach. Kishore Jena received an identification from the State Athletics Championships held in Bhubaneswar where he later joined CISF to repay the loan which was taken by his father to buy him a Javelin. Now, when Jena has qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, India will expect more than one medal at the biggest international multi-sport event.