Kishore Jena, fondly addressed as 'Jena Babu' whenever he is throwing spears in and around his home state Odisha, built his javelin career under the shadow of Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra -- until his beaming image standing beside his idol, Neeraj, on the Hangzhou Asian Games podium introduced him to the world.
The Asiad silver is Jena's claim-to-fame story, but not many are aware of the little backstory to it from Hungary, a month before Jena finished behind Neeraj in Hangzhou, which booked him his maiden ticket to the Olympics.
