While hailing Sri Lanka javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage's Diamond League Rome heroics, which have placed him amongst Indian icon Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan's current Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem as another star of this sport from the Indian subcontinent, the World Athletics vice-president Adille Sumariwalla cautioned putting any "unnecessary pressure" on Neeraj, instead letting him enjoy the sport after having achieved everything in the sport.
Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage came within touching distance of Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem's Asian record while clinching the men's javelin throw title at the Rome Diamond League 2026 on Thursday night.
Pathirage produced a stunning throw of 92.62m at the Stadio Olimpico, finishing just 35 centimetres shy of Nadeem's Asian record and Olympic gold medal-winning mark set at the Paris 2024 Games, as per Olympics.com. Now, with Pathirage producing magic at Rome and Arshad having captured the Olympic gold last year, Neeraj, who lost his World Championship crown in Tokyo with an eighth-place finish while battling back injury, faces plenty of competition from his region.
After years, Neeraj is perhaps not exactly the undisputed best javelin thrower from Asia, and his best throw of 90.23, his sole 90 m-plus throw, has been outdone twice. The 28-year-old superstar will start his new season and road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics with these two new rivals chasing his long-established legacy.
Speaking to Olympics.com, Sumariwalla does not want the Indian superstar to face any pressure, saying that the priority should be to have him stay healthy and in happy spirits to enjoy competition at the highest level.
"Let Neeraj enjoy the sport. There is no need to put unnecessary pressure on him regarding which events he should compete in. He has already achieved so much for Indian athletics. The important thing is that he remains healthy, enjoys competing and continues performing at the highest level," he said. In January, the two-time Olympic medalist Neeraj parted ways with Czech coach Jan Zelezny. The 28-year-old ended his ties with coach Zelezny after a year-long stint that was marked by mixed competitive results.
Neeraj and Zelezny were originally slated to work together until the end of the 2026 season. Neeraj was earlier coached by German biomechanics expert Dr Klaus Bartonietz, who guided him to the gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a silver at Paris 2024 as well as the World Championships title in 2023, the report said.
During his stint, Zelezny made a few technical adjustments to Neeraj's technique, which helped the Indian star to breach the 90m mark for the first time in his career at the 2025 Doha Diamond League in May. Under him, Neeraj also won the Paris Diamond League, Ostrava Golden Spike and the inaugural NC Classic at home. Chopra also finished second at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial and Diamond League Final.
Neeraj had a disappointing eighth-place finish at the Tokyo World Championships. The Indian was competing at the tournament with a back injury. Neeraj ended his season to focus on his recovery.
Source: ANI
– Agencies
