Coach under whom Neeraj scripted history no more

The 63-year-old Calvert, an Australian serving as the Chinese national javelin coach, died of a heart attack in China’s capital on Friday.

Neeraj paid tribute to Gary Calvert, his former coach, saying he had learnt a lot under the Australian.

Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra’s former coach Gary Calvert, who was instrumental in his historic historic gold at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Poland, has died in Beijing.

The 63-year-old Calvert, an Australian serving as the Chinese national javelin coach, died of a heart attack in China’s capital on Friday.

READ| National javelin coach Calvert resigns

Neeraj, who is currently training in Finland as part of preparations for the upcoming Asian Games, paid tribute to his former coach, saying he had learnt a lot under the Australian.

Apart from guiding Neeraj Chopra to the under-20 Worlds gold, Australian javelin throw coach Garry Calvert also went out of his way to advise and help young Delhi high jumper Tejaswin Shankar which helped him go to the US. “I did not know about it (Calvert’s death) until I got to know from you. It’s actually heartbreaking,” Tejaswin said. “If not for him I would’ve never made it to USA or known about the NCAA system. He was one person who would help anyone and everyone who was in trouble.”

“Very saddened to hear about the demise of coach Gary Calvert, who died of a heart attack yesterday. I had done a lot of hard work under him in 2016-17 and got to learn a lot. You were a good friend and coach, you will always be remembered. RIP,” Neeraj tweeted.

Calvert was initially appointed in February 2016 for a two-year tenure but resigned in April last year.

He reportedly wanted to revise his contractual terms and extend his tenure till the 2020 Olympics with a 50 per cent hike in his salary.