Kishore Jena registers personal best, wins gold at Sri Lanka Athletics C'ships

Indian javelin thrower Kishore Kumar Jena registered his personal best and won a gold medal at Sri Lanka National Athletics Championships with a throw of 84.38m on Friday.

This is the second consecutive gold medal for Kishore, who won a gold medal at Lebanon National Championships, last week, with a throw of 78.96m.

Kishore Kumar Jena bettered his previous personal best of 82.87m which he created last month at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar.

Kishore has been on a constant rise in the year 2023 throwing thrice over 80m and registering four personal bests since the start of the year.

In March 2023, Kishore threw 78.93m in Indian Throws Competition, Bellary to register his personal best. He breached the 80m mark for the first time at Indian Grand Prix 1 in Trivandrum with a throw of 81.05m.

Kishore recorded another personal best in June 2023 when he threw 82.87m at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships to win silver behind DP Manu.

With his latest throw, Kishore is now ranked fourth overall among the Indian throwers in terms of best throws registered. He has crossed his compatriot DP Manu who has the best throw of 84.35m.

This throw means Kishore Kumar Jena has given himself a chance for a spot in the upcoming World Championships in Budapest.

Kishore is four places out from the Top 36 at the moment in Road To Budapest rankings. With a personal best now, Kishore has a high chance of moving back to the Top 36 with 30th July being the deadline for qualification.

If Kishore qualifies, India will have four javelin throwers at the World Championships- Neeraj Chopra, DP Manu, Rohit Yadav, and Kishore.

While Kishore won the gold, veteran thrower Shivpal Singh won a silver medal with a throw of 77.36m and his chances for the World Championships look bleak given he is way below the rankings of Top 36.