Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's former coach Gary Calvert, under whom he scripted history by winning the gold medal in the Junior World Championships in 2016 with a world record throw, has died in Beijing.
The 63-year-old Calvert, an Australian serving as the Chinese national javelin coach, died of a heart attack in China's capital yesterday.
Under Calvert, who served as India's javelin coach from February 2016 to April last year, Neeraj won a historic gold at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Poland, with a throw of 86.48 metres.
Neeraj, who is currently training in Finland as part of preparations for the upcoming Asian Games, paid tribute to his former coach, saying he had learnt a lot under the Australian.
"Very saddened to hear about the demise of coach Gary Calvert, who died of a heart attack yesterday. I had done a lot of hard work under him in 2016-17 and got to learn a lot. You were a good friend and coach, you will always be remembered. RIP," Neeraj tweeted.
Calvert was initially appointed in February 2016 for a two-year tenure but resigned in April last year.
He reportedly wanted to revise his contractual terms and extend his tenure till the 2020 Olympics with a 50 per cent hike in his salary.