Daijiworld Media Network - Glasgow

Glasgow, Jul 30: Neeraj Chopra advanced to the men's javelin throw final at the 2026 Commonwealth Games after recording a best throw of 79.61 metres in the qualification round on Friday.

The two-time Olympic medallist finished fifth overall in a tightly contested field to secure one of the 12 places in the final. None of the competitors managed to cross the automatic qualification mark of 84.00 metres, resulting in all finalists progressing based on their rankings after the completion of both qualification groups.

Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage topped the qualification standings with a throw of 82.84m. Grenada's Anderson Peters finished second with 81.29m, followed by South Africa's Douw Smit (80.64m) and England's Ben East (80.38m).

Chopra's best effort of 79.61m placed him fifth ahead of Australia's Cameron McEntyre (78.91m), Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem (78.63m), Bahrain's Keyshawn Strachan (78.60m), India's Rohit Yadav (78.37m), India's Yash Vir Singh (78.36m), Trinidad and Tobago's Keshorn Walcott (78.26m) and Nigeria's Chinecherem Nnamdi (75.27m).

Chopra began his campaign with an opening throw of 76.28m before improving to 79.61m on his second attempt. Having already secured a place in the final, the 28-year-old opted to skip his third and final throw to conserve energy for the medal event, which will be held in the early hours of August 1 (IST).

India enjoyed a successful qualification round as all three of its representatives booked places in the final. Rohit Yadav qualified in ninth place with a best throw of 78.37m, narrowly edging teammate Yash Vir Singh, who finished 10th with 78.36m. The Indian trio will now compete for medals in the final.

The qualification round produced lower scores than expected, with no athlete reaching the automatic qualifying distance of 84.00m. Consequently, the 12 finalists were determined solely on the basis of their overall rankings.

The biggest surprise of the competition was the early exit of Kenya's Julius Yego. The 2015 World Champion and Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist finished 13th with a best throw of 74.50m, missing out on qualification by just one place.

Pakistan's Muhammad Yasir also suffered heartbreak after remaining inside the top 12 for much of the competition before slipping out following late improvements from Keyshawn Strachan and Chinecherem Nnamdi on their final attempts.

Qualification standings:

Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka) – 82.84m
Anderson Peters (Grenada) – 81.29m
Douw Smit (South Africa) – 80.64m
Ben East (England) – 80.38m
Neeraj Chopra (India) – 79.61m
Cameron McEntyre (Australia) – 78.91m
Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan) – 78.63m
Keyshawn Strachan (Bahrain) – 78.60m
Rohit Yadav (India) – 78.37m
Yash Vir Singh (India) – 78.36m
Keshorn Walcott (Trinidad and Tobago) – 78.26m
Chinecherem Nnamdi (Nigeria) – 75.27m