India’s javelin throw challenge at the Asian Games 2026 is being led by Rohit Yadav and Yash Vir Singh in Neeraj Chopra’s absence.
Neeraj Chopra will miss the Games after a training ligament tear ended his 2026 season early.
India have won javelin gold at the last two Asian Games and are chasing a third straight title.
Rohit Yadav enters in strong form, with a personal best of 87.68m thrown in August.
Yash Vir Singh has also recorded a career-best mark this year, 85.41m at the Commonwealth Games.
India’s javelin throw challenge at the Asian Games 2026 is being led by Rohit Yadav and Yash Vir Singh.
Neeraj Chopra will miss the Games after a ligament tear during training ended his 2026 season early.
India have won javelin gold at each of the previous two Asian Games: Neeraj Chopra at Jakarta 2018 and again at Hangzhou 2023.
Rohit Yadav enters the competition in strong form, with a personal best of 87.68m thrown in Bhubaneswar in August.
That mark is the second-best season throw among the 14 athletes entered in the event, behind only Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga.
Yash Vir Singh has also recorded his career-best mark this year, a personal best of 85.41m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.
Yash Vir Singh won bronze at the Commonwealth Games with that throw.
The main challengers to India’s gold include Rumesh Tharanga of Sri Lanka and Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan.
Rohit Yadav has said he cannot take Neeraj Chopra’s place but will try for an Asian Games medal in his own right.
The javelin throw final was one of the headline events on the Asian Games athletics schedule for September 28.
India’s javelin programme has grown significantly since Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, with a deeper pool of competitive throwers emerging.
Javelin throw (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
