Sachin Yadav struggles in Neeraj Chopra's absence as Sri Lankan Pathirage steals show with 92.62m throw in Rome

Sri Lanka's Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage ruled the men's javelin event at the Rome Diamond League in the absence of two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, while India's Sachin Yadav struggled for consistency in the 10-man field on Thursday.

The 26-year-old from Baghpat stormed into the limelight last year after a memorable World Athletics Championships, where Sachin Yadav came fourth with a personal best of 86.27m, missing out on bronze by a whisker. Neeraj had finished eighth with a best throw of 84.03m.

But on Thursday, Sachin Yadav could only muster a best throw of 79.18m on his debut, well below his personal best. He has had the season's best of 81.95m while finishing second at the Indian Athletics Series 3 in April in New Delhi.

Sachin Yadav at Rome Diamond League

Sachin Yadav began with a foul throw, and then had 79.18m, 77.02m, 76.62m, 75.54 in his next four attempts to end at the eighth spot after five throws. Only the top three after the fifth round are allowed to have their sixth and final throw.

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The day saw Sri Lanka's Pathirage recording his maiden 90m-plus throw and the second longest by an Asian, sending his spear to 92.62m in his second attempt to win the title.

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 Indian star Neeraj Chopra (90.23m) to produce the second-best throw in Asia.

Pathirage became only the fourth Asian and 28th overall to breach the coveted 90m mark. 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.

Rumesh Pathirage shines in Rome

It has been a breakout year for Pathirage as he finished second in the Diamond League leg in Rabat, Morocco, on May 31 with a throw of 85.97m after winning the title at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, with a massive effort of 89.28m.

For Yadav, the Rome leg of the prestigious Diamond League was his first international event since finishing a creditable fourth in the 2025 World Championships.

Two-time world champion and 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medallist Anderson Peters of Grenada finished second behind Pathirage with a fifth-round throw of 83.91m, while American Tokyo World Championships bronze medallist Curtis Thompson was third with 83.89m.

Tokyo 2025 World Championships gold medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago finished fourth with a fourth round throw of 83.45m.

Meanwhile, Chopra, who is currently training in Bienne, Switzerland, after a stint in Turkiye, did not compete in the Rome DL. It is not yet known when he will open his season.

The next Diamond League leg, which has men's javelin throw in the roster, is in Doha, Qatar, on June 19. It was earlier scheduled to be held on May 8, but was rescheduled to June 19 in view of the military conflict in the Middle East region.

With agency inputs