NAGOYA: There is a dearth of gold medals at the Asian Games here. The last gold medal was won in men’s kabaddi on Saturday. Athletics started on September 23 and will come to an end on Tuesday. Until now, there is no gold. Shooting, the sport that gave India seven gold in Hangzhou, is yet to open its account in individual categories. Meanwhile, nine silver and ten bronze have come in athletics but no gold yet.
For a brief while two javelin throwers were threatening to finally win India a gold – Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh, who was included at the last moment when Neeraj Chopra withdrew due to injury. Enter Rumesh Pathirage. The Sri Lankan started with one of the worst throws this season (73.53m), modest by his standards. But the world leader in javelin knew he needed just one good throw. The rain was pouring during the over one-hour long javelin throw final. Holding the javelin was a struggle let alone throwing.
Yet, Yashvir breached the 80-m mark with his first throw of 83.56m. Rohit followed in his second throw of 82.40m. Rohit jumped ahead of the field with a throw of 84.35m and Pathirage was third. Then came the monstrous throw. The screen read 88.33m. That settled the affair. Yashvir pushed himself a bit more and managed to cross 85.14 and later, 85.72m in the last two throws. Pathirage closed it with an 88.55m throw to seal the gold.
Pathirage was aiming for the Games record set by Zhao Qinggang with a throw of 89.15m. Rain proved to be dampener. “Today is not good with the little bit of rain, and I can’t go for the big throw,” he said after the event. “My first target was the Games record, then next target the Asian record, but I couldn’t go for my big throw.”
Yashvir too struggled with the grip but was happy with his medal at the Games. “Recently I have won a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games also, and this is my second lifetime achievement, this silver medal. The competition was very difficult. Because (gold medallist) Rumesh (Pathirage) threw 88.55 metres and my throw was 85m (85.72m). The weather is not so good so the javelin grip was very slippery when we were throwing.”
Sreeshankar injured after silver jump
M Sreeshankar had a good second jump and was pumped up after recording a 8.07m jump. Slowly, he was warming up for the best jump but on his fourth attempt he twisted his ankle and did not jump thereafter. He had to be stretched off the ground.