After months of confusion and doubt, Uwe Hohn, the German who owns the longest javelin throw in history, has now landed in the country to coach Indians.
But some of the country’s leading throwers, including under-20 World champion Neeraj Chopra, have not made up their mind about training under him.
“I was supposed to go to Germany but I have not decided anything,” Chopra, also the current under-20 World record holder, told Sportstar from Patiala on Thursday evening.
“And the new coach has come, so I’m yet to decide what to do.”
Chopra, who had been under rehab for a groin injury over the last few months with his sponsor JSW’s support, was supposed to go to Germany to train under Werner Daniels, the coach of 2013 Moscow Worlds champion Christina Obergfoll.
Christina’s husband Boris now trains the current World champion Johannes Vetter and Daniels is very close to them. Daniels also revealed that he was expecting Chopra in Germany within a fortnight.
“Neeraj will be here in about 10 to 12 days and I will be coaching him, maybe until 2020,” said Daniels from his Offenburg base.
One can understand Chopra’s dilemma and now that Hohn has arrived in India, the youngster is probably under pressure from the Athletics Federation of India to stay in the country and train under the German.
Meanwhile, Annu Rani, the 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist and the current women’s National record holder, is also not likely to train under Hohn.
“Annu will be training under me but we will be seeking Hohn’s support and advice regarding her technique,” said her coach, former international Kashinath Naik.
“If nobody wants to train under Hohn, what will the coach do,” asked an AFI source.
Davinder Singh Kang, who finished a surprising 12th in the recent London Worlds, could not be contacted for his plans but deputy national coach Radhakrishnan Nair revealed that Singh would be under Hohn.
Interestingly, Hohn’s world record throw of 104.80m in East Berlin in 1984 – the longest throw in history – forced athletics bosses to change the rules of the javelin throw to make it safer for other athletes on the field. His record was also removed.
However, Hohn never won an Olympic medal, for East Germany stayed away from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when he was at his best (Finland’s Arto Harkonen won the gold with 86.76m) and a weightlifting accident in 1986 cut short his career.
Garry Calvert worked wonders with Chopra earlier and guided him to the Worlds gold. The next few years will decide whether Hohn could help Indians produce some big throws too.
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