Indian javelin throwers’ hunt for Germany’s success recipe ends, China agency lends a hand

THIS WEEK, Indian javelin throwers’ hunt for a secret sauce of German success lastly ended after almost two-and-a-half years — due to the Chinese.
After knocking on a number of doorways the world over, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has lastly managed to import the Kraft Training Gerat (KTG), a specialised strength-training gear, which is believed to have performed a giant position in Germany’s domination of javelin throw. Recently, it helped their Tokyo Olympic gold medal favorite Johannes Vetter give you a sequence of 90m-plus throws.
The German veterans in India’s set-up, coach Uwe Hohn and biomechanics knowledgeable Dr Klaus Bartonietz, have been eager on Olympic-bound javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh getting the identical facility because the likes of Vetters for the Olympics this summer time.
Hohn, who’s the one man to throw the javelin over 100 metres, skilled with the KTG within the early Eighties. And Bartonietz was a part of the group that developed the easy however efficient system.
However, the hunt for “German technology and machines” hit a wall because the KTG producer in Germany, an Allmannsweier-based building firm, conveyed their incapability to ship the gear. “They informed us that they are not producing it commercially and hence are unable to supply it to us. The German company produces this machine only for their athletes,” the AFI’s chief nationwide coach Radhakrishnan Nair advised The Indian Express.
The AFI started a worldwide hunt in early 2019 to find one other producer. Finally, a name to China’s athletics federation resulted in a breakthrough.
After a sequence of calls and emails, TH Sports, based mostly in Jinan, the capital of China’s Shandong province, agreed to assist the Indians with their model of the KTG. But there was an extra delay because of the pandemic earlier than the machines have been put in on the National Institute of Sports in Patiala Friday.
“We were tracking this from December 2018. We finally found (a manufacturer), but then there was a lockdown in China and the area where it is manufactured became a containment zone. So they were not able to transport it to the port. Finally, they shipped it around February 2021,” Nair mentioned.
The Chinese model, much like the German one, has a sled connected to an inclined beam, which could be loaded with weights upto 13.8 kg. Athletes can fling the hand-held sled to imitate the javelin-throwing motion whereas an excellent trajectory and velocity of the throw is displayed by the machine in actual time.

“The key for high release speed is the development of javelin-specific throwing power. Lifting weights cannot do this. Athletes must accelerate weights, throw heavy stuff and you can do it on such a machine,” Bartonietz mentioned in an AFI assertion.
However, the biomechanics knowledgeable mentioned the KTG ought to be used solely by skilled athletes and below the steering of a coach. “Mind you, it is not for young athletes as it is not a magic machine,” he mentioned.
Though the Olympics are lower than two months away, the set up of the machines on the NIS will assist Indian throwers, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla mentioned.
“I am happy our athletes will get the best training using this. These machines were imported with great difficulty due to the pandemic,” he mentioned.