Nagoya: India secured a silver-bronze double in the men’s javelin throw at the Asian Games 2026 on Monday, with Yash Vir Singh and Rohit Yadav finishing second and third, respectively, at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.
Yash Vir achieved a personal best of 85.72 metres to win the silver medal, whereas Rohit secured bronze with a throw of 84.35 metres. Sri Lanka’s World No. 1 Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage took home gold with a best throw of 88.55m. Reigning Olympic champion, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, finished fourth with a throw of 80.29 metres.
The result meant India won two medals in the men’s javelin at the Asian Games for the second successive edition. At Hangzhou 2023, Neeraj Chopra won gold with 88.88m, while Kishore Jena took silver with 87.54m.
Neeraj, who had also won gold at Jakarta 2018, couldn’t defend his title in Japan as he had pulled out of the remainder of the season after the Diamond League in Doha due to injury.
Yash Vir made a strong start to Monday’s final, taking the early lead with 83.56m. Rohit then moved to the top with his third-attempt effort of 84.35m, leaving the two Indians in the top two positions at the halfway stage.
However, Tharanga changed the complexion of the contest in the fourth attempt.
Having started off with a throw of 73.53m and then hurling 83.34m before committing a foul, the Sri Lankan threw 88.33m to take the lead, ahead of the two Indian contenders. He then improved on that result with a throw of 88.55m in his last attempt.
In the fourth attempt, Yash Vir registered 84.31m, and then improved his result to 85.14m with his fifth throw to move ahead of Rohit and get into the silver-medal position. He held his best reserve for the last throw, achieving 85.72m and thus setting a new personal best.
The silver medal extended Yash Vir’s impressive record in international competition, having won the bronze with a personal best of 85.41m at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. While Tharanga took the gold, Neeraj claimed the silver.
Meanwhile, Rohit arrived in Japan with a personal best of 87.68m, which he had achieved in Bhubaneswar in August.
The Sri Lankan arrived at the Aichi-Nagoya Games as the top javelin thrower of 2026 among all participants. The 23-year-old had set a national record with a 92.62m throw in Rome in June, before coming close to it with a 92.07m throw in Zurich. He had then won the World Athletics Ultimate Championship earlier this month with a throw of 91.09m.
Arshad, meanwhile, started off with a throw of 76.69m and then reached 80.29m in the third attempt; he missed his second, fourth, fifth and sixth attempts and ended up outside the podium.
(IANS)
