ROME: Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem need to watch out for Asia’s next javelin superstar in the making, Sri Lankan Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, especially in the Commonwealth and Asian Games later this year.
Pathirage stunned the athletics world with a monster throw of 92.62m to win the prestigious Rome Diamond League title, sending his spear to the second-longest distance by an Asian in history and surpassing Indian star Neeraj Chopra.
The 23-year-old Pathirage destroyed the 10-man field, which includes the likes of two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who ended a distant second with 83.91m, Tokyo 2025 World Championships gold medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago (83.45m) and bronze medallist Curtis Thompson (83.89m) of the
USA. Thompson finished third while Walcott was fourth.
India’s 26-year-old Sachin Yadav struggled as he finished a disappointing eighth with a 79.18m effort in his Diamond League debut Thursday night.
My throw was a little less than the Asian record of Nadeem, by around 30cm. I will try my best to achieve it in the next meeting in Ostrava and Doha
– Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, Sri Lanka
Pathirage became only the fourth Asian and 28th overall to breach the coveted 90m mark. His effort fell just short of Pakistani Arshad Nadeem’s Paris Olympics gold-winning throw of 92.97m, but went past Chinese Taipei’s Chao-Tsun Cheng (91.36m) and Chopra (90.23m) to produce the second-best throw in Asia.
His throw was the eighth-longest distance on the world all-time list. It was also the best throw in the world since the 2024 Olympic final won by Nadeem. He came into Thursday’s competition as the season leader in the world with his 89.37m throw in a domestic event in March. It was his first Diamond League title.
He has had a meteoric rise to the top. From a personal best of 76.45m in 2023, he reached 85.45 the next year and 86.50m in 2025. This year, he threw 89.37m in a domestic meet in March, which was the world lead of the season before his massive 92.62m in Rome.
Pathirage was initially interested in cricket, just like many Sri Lankan boys. He wanted to be a fast bowler, according to reports and at the under-18 level, he was hurling the ball at 134 km per hour.
In a nationwide fast-bowling talent hunt in 2019, he finished second-fastest in his category. In his only competitive outing for St Peter’s College, Colombo, he took five wickets and scored a half-century in the same match.
Later, he shifted to individual sport and took up throwing events under the guidance of his father, a discus and shot-put thrower.
In 2017, he began throwing the javelin full-time.
Pathirage and Chopra had faced each other only twice so far, and the head-to-head record has been 1-1. Chopra won gold in the NC Classic, which he hosted in Bengaluru in June 2025, while Pathirage had finished third with 84.34m. However, in the Tokyo World Championships last year, a not completely fit Chopra ended a disappointing fourth, while Pathirage finished seventh with 84.38m.
It is not known when the duo will meet each other this year. Chopra is currently training in Switzerland after injury rehabilitation and is yet to reveal his first competition of the season. Pathirage, on the other hand, said he will be competing in the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czechia, on June 16 and then in the Diamond League Meeting in Doha three days later.
“(My throw was) a little (less) than in the Asian record (of Nadeem), by around 30cm. I will try my best (to achieve it) in the next meet in Ostrava and Doha Diamond League. I’ll try my best,” said Pathirage, who smashed the meeting record of 90.34m set by Andreas Thorkildsen 20 years ago.