Mumbai, July 13 (IANS) Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan’s biggest hope for gold in athletics, has high hopes of defending his Commonwealth Games javelin throw title in the 2026 edition in Glasgow, admitting the competition is heating up with several new athletes attaining the next level.

Besides India’s Neeraj Chopra, Anderson Peters of Grenada, and Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka are top competitors for Nadeem’s title when they throw the javelin in Glasgow on August 1.

Pathirage is the fast-rising thrower who won a gold medal in the Diamond League in Rome when his winning throw of 92.62m at the Stadio Olympico was just 35 centimeters short of Nadeem’s record-breaking and gold medal-winning throw of 92.97 m at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

As he prepares for the big competition, Nadeem admits the competition will be tough. “I am very hopeful of repeating a gold medal performance, InShaAllah (God willing), and have prepared extensively for that,” Nadeem told Telecom Asia Sport before he departed for Switzerland for his final preparation and competition before CWG.

“I usually participate in an event before any big contest, so I am first going to compete at the Diamond League in Switzerland before going to Glasgow,” the Olympic champion said. “The Diamond League event will give me an idea about my strength and preparation, and I am very confident that a win in Switzerland will give me the right kind of confidence and momentum.”

Neeraj won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games but missed the next edition with an injury, paving the way for Nadeem’s first major title in Birmingham.

Nadeem admitted Chopra, and others will be snapping at his heels to grab the CWG gold. “I know the competition is tough and besides Chopra, the new Sri Lankan javelin thrower Tharanga will be a threat, so I strongly feel that the competition in Glasgow will be tough this time, but I am prepared for it,” he told www.telecomasia.net, adding, “There is always pressure while entering the field, only then that pressure has to be controlled.”

Nadeem’s post-Olympic showing has been marred by fitness issues, mainly calf, which saw him finish a poor 10th-place finish at the World Athletics Championships in 2025 with a poor throw of 82.75m.

But he won gold in the Islamic Solidarity Games with an 83.05-meter throw in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, while he managed another top finish in Gumi, South Korea, he won the gold medal with an impressive throw of 86.40 meters in the Asian Athletics Championship.

Nadeem has been named captain of Pakistan’s 36-member contingent for the Commonwealth Games 2026, scheduled to be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 2. “Leading the contingent is also a big honour, so I will double that honour with a gold medal,” he said.

–IANS

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