Javelin thrower Jena gets visa appointment with Hungarian embassy; could still compete at Worlds

Kishore Kumar Jena got a fresh appointment with the Hungarian embassy, renewing his hopes for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest. File
| Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

A day after javelin thrower Kishore Kumar Jena’s one-month visa was cancelled by the Hungarian embassy, he has got a fresh appointment for Friday, renewing hopes that the 27-year-old can still compete in the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) in an update shared on X (formerly twitter) said on Thursday, “Thanks to all. Javelin thrower Kishore Kumar Jena has appointment at Hungary embassy tomorrow at 9am.” The Odisha athlete’s visa was cancelled by the Hungarian embassy on Wednesday, rendering him a doubtful starter at the marquee athletics event slated to be held from August 19-27.

In the wake of cancellation of Jena’s visa, fellow javelin thrower and Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra on Thursday sought the Ministry of External Affairs’ intervention to resolve the issue so that the athlete could compete in the Worlds.

Taking to social media, Chopra urged Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar to “find a solution”.

“Just heard that there are issues with Kishore Jena’s VISA, preventing him from entering Hungary for the World C’ships. I hope the authorities are able to find a solution, as this is one of the biggest moments of his career. Let’s do everything we can,” he posted tagging MEA and Jaishankar.

Jena, who won gold in the Sri Lankan National Championships on July 30 with a personal best of 84.38m, had made the cut through the world ranking quota.

Jena had qualified for the event after being placed 36th in the Road to Budapest list updated by World Athletics (WA) following the completion of the qualification period on July 30.

The 27-year-old is one of the four Indian javelin throwers to have qualified for the World Championships. DP Manu and Rohit Yadav had also made the cut but the latter pulled out after undergoing an elbow surgery on his throwing arm.

Jena, who had won silver in the National Inter-State in June, and Manu are the only Indian athletes yet to reach Budapest out of the 28-member squad.