AICHI-NAGOYA: Pakistan’s Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem finished fourth in the Asian Games 2026 Javelin throw final at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Monday. Arshad best throw was off 81.49m in his third attempt as Sri Lanka’s sensation Rumesh Pathirage claimed gold with a 88.33m throw in the final round.
Meanwhile, Indian duo of Yash Vir and Rohit Yadav claimed silver and bronze with their best throws at 85.72 and 84.35m, respectively.
Arshad sent a 76.59m opening throw while his second attempt resulted in foul. In his third attempt, the Mian-Channu born athlete made a 80.29m throw to book a spot in the top eight position.
Despite a better throw in third attempt, the 29-year-old committed three consecutive fouls followed, subsequently ruling him out of the medal race.
India’s Yashvir and Rohit continued to dominate the proceedings from start, with 83.56 and 82.99 throw in theirfirst and second attempts, respectively. However, Pathirage, who was favorite to claim gold, stealed the show with a distant throw in the final round.
Besides Arshad, Pakistan’s Mohammad Yasir finished ninth with a throw of 73.50m.
This was the second gold for Rumesh Pathirage, whose rise continued after he had an impressing outing in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship earlier this month. Pathirage also clinched gold in that event with a monstrous 91.09m throw.
On the contrary, this was another poor outing for Arhsad, who failed to rose to occasion since claim-ing gold in Paris Olympics with a record throw of 92.97m. He was at ninth place at the Common-wealth Games in Glasgow and fifth at the inagural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Buda-pest earlier this month.
Overall, 14 players participated from different countries in the Javelin throw competition. –Agencies
