Defending champion Arshad Nadeem began his Commonwealth Games men’s javelin title defence as the final got underway at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium on Friday.
The Pakistani athlete qualified for the final after finishing seventh in the qualification round with a best throw of 78.63 metres.
No athlete met the automatic qualifying standard of 84 metres during the three-throw qualification event. Instead, the 12 competitors with the best throws progressed to the final.
Sri Lanka’s Ramesh Tharanga led the qualification standings with a throw of 82.84 metres, followed by Grenada’s Anderson Peters (81.29m) and South Africa’s Douw Smit (80.64m).
England’s Ben East finished fourth with 80.38 metres, while India’s Neeraj Chopra was fifth with 79.61 metres. Australia’s Cameron McEntyre qualified sixth with 78.91 metres, one place ahead of Nadeem.
Pakistan’s Yasir Sultan failed to reach the final after placing 14th with a best throw of 74.36 metres.
Nadeem entered the competition as the defending Commonwealth champion after winning gold at the 2022 Games with a record-breaking throw of 90.18 metres.
That effort set both the national and Commonwealth Games records and made him the first South Asian athlete to surpass the 90-metre mark in the men’s javelin throw.