New Delhi [India], June 7 (ANI): While hailing Sri Lanka javelin thrower Rumesh Pathirage’s Diamond League Rome heroics, which have positioned him amongst Indian icon Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan’s present Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem as one other star of this sport from the Indian subcontinent, the World Athletics vice-president Adille Sumariwalla cautioned placing any ‘pointless strain’ on Neeraj, as an alternative letting him benefit from the sport after having achieved all the things within the sport.
Pathirage got here inside touching distance of Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem’s Asian file whereas clinching the lads’s javelin throw title on the Rome Diamond League 2026 on Thursday night time. Pathirage produced a surprising throw of 92.62m on the Stadio Olimpico, ending simply 35 centimetres shy of Nadeem’s Asian file and Olympic gold medal-winning mark set on the Paris 2024 Games, as per Olympics.com.
Now, with Pathirage producing magic at Rome and Arshad having captured the Olympic gold final yr, Neeraj, who misplaced his World Championship crown in Tokyo with an eighth-place end whereas battling again harm, faces loads of competitors from his area. After years, Neeraj is probably not precisely the undisputed finest javelin thrower from Asia, and his finest throw of 90.23, his sole 90 m-plus throw, has been outdone twice. The 28-year-old celebrity will begin his new season and highway to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics with these two new rivals chasing his long-established legacy.
Speaking to Olympics.com, Sumariwalla doesn’t need the Indian celebrity to face any strain, saying that the precedence needs to be to have him keep wholesome and in completely satisfied spirits to get pleasure from competitors on the highest degree.
‘Let Neeraj benefit from the sport. There is not any have to put pointless strain on him relating to which occasions he ought to compete in. He has already achieved a lot for Indian athletics. The essential factor is that he stays wholesome, enjoys competing and continues performing on the highest degree,’ he stated.
In January, the two-time Olympic medalist Neeraj parted methods with Czech coach Jan Zelezny. The 28-year-old ended his ties with coach Zelezny after a year-long stint that was marked by combined aggressive outcomes.
Neeraj and Zelezny have been initially slated to work collectively till the top of the 2026 season. Neeraj was earlier coached by German biomechanics professional Dr Klaus Bartonietz, who guided him to the gold medal within the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a silver at Paris 2024 in addition to the World Championships title in 2023, the report stated.
During his stint, Zelezny made a couple of technical changes to Neeraj’s approach, which helped the Indian star to breach the 90m mark for the primary time in his profession on the 2025 Doha Diamond League in May.
Under him, Neeraj additionally gained the Paris Diamond League, Ostrava Golden Spike and the inaugural NC Classic at residence. Chopra additionally completed second on the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial and Diamond League Final.
Neeraj had a disappointing eighth-place end on the Tokyo World Championships. The Indian was competing on the match with a again harm. Neeraj ended his season to concentrate on his restoration. (ANI)