New Delhi: India experienced joy in men’s javelin as Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh qualified for the finals, but there was disappointment elsewhere as the 4x100m men’s relay team was disqualified during the preliminary round after a faulty baton exchange in Gumi, South Korea.
The quartet of Pranav Pramod Gaurav, Ragul Kumar Ganesh, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain crashed out after being found guilty of baton exchange outside the takeover zone – a clear violation of World Athletics’ Technical Rule 24.7. The Malaysian team was also disqualified in a similar manner.
Can Yashvir and Sachin do the impossible?
In the absence of Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra, India’s javelin campaign is being spearheaded by Sachin and Yashvir. The duo now face a daunting task of facing reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, making the final an India vs Pakistan contest.
Sachin and Yashvir entered the 12-man javelin throw final with throws of 79.62m and 76.67m, respectively.
Sachin Yadav & Yashveer qualify for Men’s Javelin Final! 🇮🇳
India’s Sachin Yadav threw 79.62m, while Yashveer registered 76.67m to book their spots in the Men’s Javelin Final at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025!
📅 The final is scheduled for May 31 (Last Day) at 13:40… pic.twitter.com/V7L5JZvKU7
— nnis Sports (@nnis_sports) May 30, 2025
Pakistan’s Muhammad Yasir also qualified for the finals, making it two Pakistanis and as many Indians in the fight for medals.
Nadeem, unsurprisingly, finished at the top with a decent effort of 86.34m in the qualifying round. He is appearing in his first competition since the gold-winning epic throw of 92.97m in the Paris Olympics last year.
Trumping the powerful Pakistani looks like an impossible task for the Indian pair of Sachin and Yashvir, but stranger things have happened in sports before.
In other events, women’s 100m hurdles gold-winner Jyothi Yarraji and Nithya Gandhe progressed to the 200m finals after clocking 23.74 sec and 23.77 sec respectively in their heats.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 200m event, Animesh Kujur advanced to the semifinals after clocking 20.98 seconds in his preliminary race.
India remain gold favourite in the heptathlon after Nandini Agsara reached 4500 points at the end of five events. In the long jump on Friday, she finished on top after covering 6.13m.
She has a decent lead over China’s Liu Jingyi, who has 4210 points. Only the javelin throw and 800m events are left to be completed later this evening.
In the absence of Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra, India’s javelin campaign is being spearheaded by Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh. The duo will fight reigning Olympic champ Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan in the final. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
