With guruji in tow, Sachin Yadav surges ahead

When Sachin Yadav steps on the track, the crowd begins to whisper in acknowledgement of his presence. His 6’ 5’’ frame is both unusual and unmissable at the same time. And when he hurls the javelin, the whispers turn in a cheer.

On Wednesday, he registered a personal best of 84.39m at the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand to break a decade-long National Games Record.

He was mobbed by the media soon after. Most had the same question, “What mindset did you come here with?”

Undeterred by fall

Yadav wasn’t jumping in delight. He didn’t attempt to manufacture a headline grabbing one-liner either.

“I just felt that I had to give my best. I had no number in mind. I just wanted to give my best,” was all that he said.

And he had to pull out his best, considering the fact that Yadav endured a fall at the beginning of the competition.

“In the first throw, I slipped, so got worried in my mind that I got hurt in my leg.”

His old pair of spikes didn’t quite stick into the new synthetic track and Yadav fell at the point of delivery.

Those that believe in superstitions would have labelled the slip an inauspicious start.

But buoyed by his coach - who he fondly calls guruji - and cheering friends, Yadav brushed aside the blip and chugged along.

“I put spray on it and kept going,” he says, in an almost nonchalant manner.

It speaks volumes of Yadav's grit.

Staying injury-free

Hailing from village of Khekada in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district, Yadav has been rather consistent over the past few months.

When this writer interviewed him at the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru last June, he had sent down a then personal best of 82.69m. Thereafter, at the Open Nationals in September, he registered 80.04m.

And he owes much of his progress to his guruji, coach Naval Singh, whose methods Yadav swears by.

“We have a good understanding. If I feel pain at some point, he immediately asks me to stop that work out.”

Yadav recognizes the value of staying injury free, having suffered fractures in 2021.

“He (coach Naval Singh) wants to keep me injury free. It’s a long road ahead. If I get injured, recovery eats up a lot of time,” he says.

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High on confidence

Yadav is sincere in perfecting his craft and believes in putting in the hard yards.

“We have been working on power and strength. Our training remains hard and silent. We don’t show anything to anybody.”

For an athlete that has shown as much promise as he has, Yadav’s composure is commendable. And as he looks back on his gold medal performance at Uttarakhand, he is bound to be a lot more confident for the season ahead.

“The first competition has been good, so next one will be good as well,” he opines.

And when asked if there will be celebrations and what his next competition will be, his answer points to the training ground.

“No celebration. Guruji said I’ll meet you on the ground. I have left it all on my guruji, I do as he tells me.”