Sri Lankan star Rumesh Pathirage’s javelin broken ahead of Asian Games

Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage is Sri Lanka’s best hope for gold at the Asian Games, but his preparations have been thrown out of whack after his javelins were broken on a flight back from the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

The 23-year-old won gold in Budapest, Hungary, with a best throw of 91.09 metres to add yet another title to his growing collection this season, including Diamond League champion, Commonwealth Games champion, and the only thrower this season to register two throws over 92m.

But his triumphant homecoming turned sour when he landed in Katunayake to find his equipment broken.

Pathirage posted a picture of the five damaged javelins, including the three he used at the Ultimate Championship, on social media on Tuesday with the caption: “Thank you Turkish Airlines.”

He also listed the distances he had thrown them: “85.98, 92.62, 88.50, 89.20, 89.37, 88.20, 89.68, 92.06, 91.06 good bye.”

“It might be a mistake by the airline, but it caused a priceless loss for me,” Pathirage told reporters. “It’s not a big issue; I’ll move on.”

His coach, Tony Prasanna, lamented the “rude shock” they were greeted with in Sri Lanka.

“We checked in five javelins — all packed extremely carefully and well — but all of them arrived broken,” Prasanna told the AFP news agency.

“It is not the cost of a javelin, which is quite high, but the emotional attachment,” he said.

“This is a psychological setback for Rumesh, and I will counsel him on it. We were planning to take three of these javelins to the 2028 Olympics and to the Asian Games.”

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Sports said it would provide new javelins for world number one Pathirage to compete at the Asian Games in Japan’s Nagoya.

“The government will take up this matter with the airline and take appropriate legal action,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said Pathirage — the first Sri Lankan to become a Diamond League champion — is the country’s gold-medal hopeful at the Asian Games, where he will challenge Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem for the top prize.

Javelins used by professional throwers usually cost upwards of $800, with world-class athletes owning three to five that they use in training and travel with for global competitions.