Sahil Silwal ready to use Klaus Bartonietz's training program to prepare for 2022

Haryana’s 21-year-old international javelin thrower Sahil Silwal has big goals for the 2022 season. Next year there will be three major competitions - the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA. Sahil's plan is to compete in all three competitions

In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Sahil said:

“My best performance of the 2021 season was 80.65m. To compete in all three major competitions of 2022 including World Championships I need to raise the level of my performance to 84-meter and above.”

Klaus Bartonietz is in charge of Sahil's training program

Sahil has been training with Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra in the national camp. Sahil’s training program too has been structured by none other than German bio-mechanic expert Klaus Bartonietz.

The German trainer was instrumental in polishing Neeraj's throwing skills. It will be interesting to see whether Klaus can work his magic with other javelin throwers as well.

According to Sahil, his performance graph has been steady. Sahil switched to javelin from discus in November 2017. He finished fourth in the 2018 World U20 Athletics.

“There has been gradual improvement. I have crossed the 80m mark in the competition this season (80.65m). I am confident of breaking the 84m barrier in 2022.”

Neeraj (88.08m), Shivpal Singh (86.23m) and Davinder Singh Kang (84.22m) are among those who have crossed the 84m barrier at the international level.

The Harayana javelin thrower wants to focus on improving strength and technique in the coming months.

“Strength and technique are the two main aspects of training I shall be focusing on in the coming months. I have a good six to seven months to prepare for the challenging season ahead,” he said.

Sahil believes there should be good facilities at the grassroots level in India. The international javelin thrower rues the lack of facilities in Bhiwani which is considered one of the hubs of sports in Haryana. It is also where Sahil trains.

“The stadium in Bhiwani where I train doesn’t have a proper facility for javelin throw event. The javelin throw sector doesn’t have a grass. It’s muddy. It is difficult to train. There is no proper washroom,” he added.

The lack of grass at the Bhiwani stadium makes it difficult to practice

Sahil believes one of the key aspects of attracting more youngsters to this game is to develop a good infrastructure at the district level.

“That’s the only way to build a strong base,” he said.