Lahore, Pakistan, July 23, 2026: Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the reigning Olympic champion, has acknowledged the pressure of defending his men’s javelin throw title at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games which gets underway today, July 23.
Nadeem, who won gold at Birmingham 2022 with a new Commonwealth Games record throw of 90.18 metres, will lead Pakistan’s 36-strong athlete squad in Glasgow.
He admitted expectations have only grown since his record-breaking triumph four years ago and so has the level of competition.
“Four years after I broke the Commonwealth Games record in 2022, I remain in the same position. There is also pressure on me that I have been the champion for four years now and I will again need to do well to retain the title,” Nadeem was quoted as saying by Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
Pakistan will compete in six sports in Glasgow – athletics, boxing, gymnastics, lawn bowls, judo and swimming.
Nadeem will come up against strong challenges from arch-rival Neeraj Chopra of India and Rumesh Pathirage Tharanga of Sri Lanka.
The Pakistani ace did not square off against Chopra in Birmingham four years ago. However, he memorably denied the Indian – Olympic gold medallist at Tokyo 2020 – a successful title defence in the Paris 2024 Olympics with a 92.97m effort which was a new Olympic record.
The emergence of Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage Tharanga, who recently logged 92.62m at the Rome Diamond League and also won the Doha Diamond League, has also added a new dimension to the battle for South Asian and world javelin supremacy.
Tharanga holds four of the top throws in men’s javelin this year and is expected to be a strong contender for gold in Glasgow.
Nadeem said: “I strongly feel that the competition in Glasgow will be tough. But I am prepared for it. There is always pressure while entering the field, only then that pressure has to be controlled.”