Neeraj’s former coach Klaus Bartonietz, believes the thrower still can win Olympic medal; impressed by Sachin Yadav
The 76-year-old javelin coach, Klaus Bartoneiz, who guided Neeraj Chopra to win a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics and also a gold medal in the World Championship in 2023, still believes that Neeraj Chopra has the ability to win another Olympic medal. After spending six years together, Klaus and Neeraj parted ways. At this point, Neeraj started a new phase by training under world record holder Jan Zelezny. In an exclusive interview with The Sportstar, Klaus revealed, stating, “I didn’t speak much to him after the final. He looked very upset and disappointed, and it’s hard to know what to say in that moment. He’s a good sportsperson. He congratulated Keshorn and said he’d do better. I think he had some health problems and couldn’t train for two weeks. He was very good in the qualification but couldn’t repeat it the next day. Sometimes it’s just luck,” This year’s World Championships featured many surprises, and the javelin final illustrated that. For example, Walcott became one of the oldest champions, while world leader Julian Weber missed the podium altogether. Meanwhile, America’s relatively unknown Curtis Thompson earned a podium spot, and Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem finished in 10th place. Klaus added, “Neeraj still has the capacity to win another Olympic medal. Jan Zelezny did it three times, so he knows what it takes mentally. Neeraj’s still young, 27 or 28 years old. He aims high but isn’t overconfident — that’s important. He’s dealt with injury before, and he’s thrown 90 metres. He also has a very good physiotherapist in Ishan Marwaha, who’s worked with him for years. That helps. I think he’ll be in contention again,” says Klaus. From an Indian perspective, the event brought both disappointment and promise. While defending champion Neeraj finished eighth—his first time outside the top two at a major event since 2018—the emergence of 25-year-old Sachin Yadav, who came within 40 centimeters of a podium finish on his debut, offered optimism for the future. Klaus has high praise for Sachin. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if Sachin had won a medal. Half a meter more and he would have been on the podium. He was already over 86 meters and at that distance, 40 centimeters is nothing,” he says. At 6’5” and nearly 110 kilograms, Sachin combines size and strength with technique, says Klaus. “He’s very tall. That’s a great benefit, but he’s also technically very sound. These guys are all strong, but it’s not about how much you can lift or sprint. Sachin’s best points are that he’s both powerful and technically good. He has a very stable front leg and great coordination,” he adds.
‘I have seen you run. You lock the left and then you release the right, both of them should be locked’: Kujur overjoyed by Bolt’s priceless advice
India’s fastest man, Animesh Kujur met his idol, Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man in a Puma collaboration in Mumbai. Kujur, who has had a breakthrough season this year, asked Bolt about running techniques and tips that could help him run faster. Animesh worships Bolt as his hero. The 100m and 200m sprinter loves to hit the legendary Jamaican’s signature celebration whenever he wins a competition. The runner from Odisha was in sensational form this season, breaking the national records in both the 100m and 200m sprints. Due to his consistent performances, he earned qualification for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo this year. He ran in the 200m sprint heats — the first time ever by an Indian. Animesh talked to Bolt about his running technique, and the fastest man in the world suggested a few corrections. Bolt told him to fling his arms back and forth instead of taking them across his body, and asked Kujur to lock his right arm better while sprinting. “The arms should not go across your body, they should go back and forth. I have seen you run. You lock the left and then you release the right — both of them should be locked,” Bolt told Kujur. Animesh Kujur is known for his devastating top-end speed. He and three other Indian sprinters are leading India’s running revolution. The Indian sprint quartet — Animesh, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Gurindervir Singh, and Amlan Borgohain are expected to do well in the Asian Games 2026. If they can match their best performance, it is highly likely that they will be able to claim India’s first gold medal in the 4x100m men’s relay. Animesh has earned high praise from former Indian athletes as well. Former sprinter and World Athletics body’s vice president Adille Sumariwalla recently had called Animesh the greatest Indian sprinter ever.
Neeraj says he needs to work on core muscles to make body stronger
Neeraj Chopra said he will need to work harder on his core muscles and make his body stronger to consistently log 90-plus distances in international competitions. Core muscles of the body play an extremely vital role in generating power in a sport like javelin throw. Chopra, the two-time Olympic medalist, clinched his first Diamond League title in two years on Friday with a throw of 88.16m but fell short of his personal best throw of 90.23m registered at the Doha Diamond League earlier this year. The 27-year-old javelin thrower explained, opining after winning the title in a star-studded field that had five throwers from the coveted 90m club on Friday, “Yes, I need some more control when I throw, like on the attack. We are working on it in training, but still, there are so many things we have to change, and I need maybe a stronger core and stronger body for throwing.” “It’s just a matter of time and rhythm to get more and more competition.” The ace athlete said he was happy with his run-up, but when it comes to the timing of the throw, he needs to put in some more effort. “…like timing, because I feel really good (in the) run-up, but the timing was not so good when I threw (the javelin). I quickly go left, and it is not good. I need to throw to the front, like with the chest, and go up with the javelin. We are working on it,” Chopra continued. Chopra, who is currently being coached by the legendary javelin thrower Jan Zelezný, said he was looking forward to the Ostrava Golden Spike athletics meet on 24th June, and the four days in between will give him time to recover.
Pranati Nayak wins bronze in Asian Artistic Championships; Coach aims for medals in Commonwealth and Asian Games
Sudeep Pakrashi: Pranati Nayak bagged a bronze medal in the vault at the 2025 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Jecheon Gymnasium in South Korea on Saturday. The 30-year-old gymnast from Bengal, now based in Bhubaneswar, scored 13.466 to finish third behind Yihan Zhang from China and Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhu. The other Indian in contention, Protistha Samanta, missed out on a podium spot, finishing with a score of 13.016 and ending up in fourth place. Nayak also broke Deepa Karmakar’s record after ensuring her third continental medal on Saturday. Nayak has earlier won vault bronze medals at the Asian Championships in 2019 (Ulaanbaatar) and 2022 (Doha). Pranati’s coach Ashok Kumar Misra although expected silver from his student in the championship, sounded satisfied about Pranati’s performance while speaking over the phone from Jecheon on Saturday. Misra now is aiming for Pranati’s medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year. “She has now been more confident in her front landing. I want to apply a little bit of innovation in her third vault so that her performance can be more competitive and help her to increase the score, explained Ashok. Pranati now is executing 720 tsukahara in her first vault and then 540 with a full twist and steady landing. Ashok wants her to execute more twists in her third landing and he opined, “Pranati still has such a desire and determination, I hope she will adopt the innovation within the next few months.”
Extraordinary ‘Serial winner’ Duplantis dominates at Oslo Diamond League again
Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis dominated the men’s pole vault at the Diamond League meet in Oslo on Thursday in another stellar display. “I am delighted,” said Duplantis after winning with a new meet record of 6.15 meters. “To get a stadium record here was in my plans after a few visits here with difficult conditions. “It was great to get the right conditions tonight finally.” The US-born Swede remains head and shoulders above the rest, having bettered his world record to 6.27m in February on the back of a 2024 season when he not only won Olympic gold but also broke the world record three times. Duplantis has also registered the 11 highest jumps in the history of the sport, improving the world record one centimeter at a time from 6.17 to 6.27. He is the undisputed king of the event and was also named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2024. Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt is the only track and field athlete to have previously won the award. Duplantis has now competed in 40 Diamond League meetings since 2020 and lost only four times, making him one of the series’ most extraordinary serial winners.
Pooja creates history in Asian Athletics Championsip
Pooja from Bosti village in Haryana created history in the ongoing Asian Athletics Championship on Friday. She won gold in the high jump jumping 1.89 metre. Pooja’s coach Ramkrishna, naturally elated with his student’s success also expressed surprise. He stated, “I had hope on her performance. But I could not imagine she would jump 1.89. Rather my expectation was that she would make 1.85 metre.”. Tejashwin Shankar, the country’s one of the most prominent athletes and have won medals in his event in the ongoing competition, posted on social media describing Pooja’s performance amazing. “Among all of us her performance was the brightest. Her technique is amazing at only 18 years old.”
The Quartet of male sprinters shatter 15-year-old men’s national 4x100m relay record in India Open
India currently boast of an excellent bunch of male sprinters. Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain have run sub-10.30 secs in the 100m. On Wednesday, the quartet representing Reliance shattered a 15-year-old national record in the 4x100m relay, clocking 38.69s to win the India Open relay competition at Chandigarh. The previous national mark of 38.89s came while winning bronze at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games. The quartet has been in excellent form this season and came together to set a fresh bench-mark at Chandigarh’s Sector 7 Sports Complex. Gurindervir, who set the 100m national record (10.20s) this year, ran the first leg, and Animesh, the 200m national record holder with a 100m best of 10.27s, the second. Manikanta (100m best 10.22s) extended the lead with a brilliant bend run. Amlan, known for his powerful dash down the straight crossed the finish unchallenged. The Tamil Nadu quartet was second (39.83s) and the Army third (41.40s). For perspective, the Asian record set by Japan in 2019 is 37.43secs. At the 2023 Asian Championships, Thailand won gold at 38.55s, ahead of China (38.87 secs) and South Korea (38.99secs), which should raise Indian hopes of a podium finish at the coming continental meet. “We just believed in each other and our speed,” said Amlan. They will be part of India’s 4x100m relay team at the Asian Championships in South Korea in May. Federation Cup winner Pranav Gurav is also part of the relay squad. In women’s 4x400m relay, Sneha K, Rupal Chaudhary, Jisna Mathew, and Subha Venkatesan won clocking 3:32.64s. All four national campers are in the Asian Championships squad. Tamil Nadu’s Dhesikha V, N Mariea, Akshya Baskar, and Vithya Ramraj were second (3:40.85s).
