Indian Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra.
Credit: Reuters
Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra on Thursday sought Ministry of External Affairs' intervention to resolve the visa issue of Kishore Jena so that his fellow javelin thrower can compete in the upcoming World Athletics Championships.
The Athletics Federation of India on Wednesday said the Odisha javelin throwers one-month visa was cancelled by the Embassy of Hungary in Delhi, rendering him a doubtful starter at the marquee athletics event slated in Budapest from August 19-27.
Taking to his social media handle X (formerly Twitter), 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.