Coach under whom Neeraj Chopra scripted history passes away

Neeraj Chopra

Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's former coach Gary Calvert, under whom he scripted history by winning the gold medal in the Junior World Championships in 2016 with a world record throw, 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 yesterday. Under Calvert, who served as India's javelin coach from February 2016 to April last year, Neeraj won a historic gold at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Poland, with a throw of 86.48 metres.

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. "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.

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