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Sri Lanka javelin national record holder, Rumesh Tharanga, produced a performance for the ages at the Rome Diamond League on Thursday, elevating himself from a promising international contender to one of the world’s elite field athletes.
Competing against Olympic champions, world champions and several members of the exclusive 90-metre club, Tharanga unleashed a staggering throw of 92.62 metres to win the men’s javelin competition at the prestigious Golden Gala in Rome. The mammoth effort not only secured his maiden Diamond League victory but also established a new Sri Lankan national record, a meeting record and one of the finest performances in world athletics this year.
The significance of the achievement extends far beyond a single victory. By surpassing the 90-metre barrier, Tharanga entered one of athletics’ most exclusive clubs. His 92.62m effort elevated him among the greatest javelin throwers in history and underlined his emergence as a genuine medal contender on the global stage. According to World Athletics stats, the throw placed him among the all-time top performers in the event while restoring his position as the world leader for the 2026 season.
The Rome triumph came only days after Tharanga had become the first Sri Lankan athlete to finish among the top three of a Diamond League field event when he claimed second place at the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco with a throw of 85.97 metres. His rapid progression from secon place in Rabat to champion in Rome illustrates the remarkable consistency he has displayed throughout the season.
For Sri Lankan athletics, the achievement ranks among the greatest ever produced by a national athlete on the international circuit. The Diamond League represents the highest level of one-day athletics competition in the world, second only to the Olympic Games and World Championships. Winning a Diamond League event requires defeating the very best athletes in the sport, making Tharanga’s feat one of the most significant accomplishments in the country’s athletics history.
His performance also continues a remarkable journey that has seen him repeatedly raise Sri Lanka’s national record. The previous generation of Sri Lankan javelin throwing was led by former national record holder Sumeda Ranasinghe, who pushed the national mark into the mid-80 metre range and became the country’s first thrower to consistently challenge Asia’s best. Ranasinghe’s record-breaking performances laid the foundation for the current golden era of Sri Lankan javelin throwing.
Before Tharanga’s emergence, only one Sri Lankan athlete had competed at Diamond League events. Sprinter Yupun Abeykoon open the door for future Sri Lankan athletes to believe they could compete among the world’s elite.
However, while previous Sri Lankan athletes had reached finals, broken national records and earned international recognition, none had won a Diamond League event. That barrier has now been shattered by Tharanga.
At just 23 years of age, the Kalutara-born athlete has transformed from a promising youngster into one of the most feared javelin throwers in the world. Earlier this year he climbed into the world’s top rankings and established himself as the season leader with a series of outstanding throws. The Rome victory now confirms that Sri Lanka possesses an athlete capable of challenging for medals at the highest level of the sport.
More importantly, Tharanga’s achievement represents a watershed moment for Sri Lankan athletics. Just as legends such as Susanthika Jayasinghe and Duncan White inspired generations through their Olympic achievements, Tharanga’s Rome triumph has demonstrated that a Sri Lankan athlete can not only compete with the world’s best but can defeat them on one of athletics’ grandest stages.
The javelin launched into the Roman night travelled 92.62 metres. Its impact on Sri Lankan athletics may travel much further. (RF)
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Saud Shakeel marched towards a first Test century in over two years as Pakistan continued their dominance on the second morning of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Rawalpindi. The session brought 109 runs and just the solitary wicket, as Pakistan moved from 281 for 5 to 390 for 6 at lunch.
Much of Shakeel’s – and Pakistan’s – runs in the session came as part of a 96-run partnership with Ghazi Ghori. And once the latter fell, two runs short of a maiden Test fifty, debutant Arrafat Minhas stepped in without missing a step, and the pair had put on 41 by the interval.
Sri Lanka’s breakthrough came against the run of play, and followed the arrival of the new ball. It was more batter error than anything bowler induced, as Ghazi wafted at a wide one from Dilshan Madushanka. A very good catch from Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who was briefly wrong-footed at gully, completed the play.
It was a brief moment of reprieve on yet another tiring morning for the Sri Lanka seamers. But as has been the case across most of the Pakistan innings, Sri Lanka were unable to string wickets together.
The Shakeel-Ghazi stand was the fourth 50-plus stand of the innings, and before long the Shakeel-Arafat pairing was threatening to become the fifth. Much of this was down to Arafat’s proactive approach.
Parachuted in from the white-ball side, he looked every bit the shorter-format player plying his trade in Tests. He faced just seven deliveries before slashing a short one over gully for his first Test boundary, and his second followed soon after with another similar uppercut behind square.
New Zealand’s 11 series-winning streak at home – the second-longest in bilateral men’s ODIs – came to an end with no play possible in the third ODI against India in Hamilton on Tuesday. Coming into the third ODI 2-0 behind, New Zealand can now only hope to draw the series in the two matches in Mount Manganui over the weekend before the two teams start their two-Test series.
It started to rain in Hamilton on the afternoon before the match, and rarely let up after. The ground was in such good order that the groundstaff took little time to get the surface ready for play when there was a brief break in the downpour.
Sri Lanka’s rising middle-distance runner Lahiru Achintha produced another outstanding international performance to win the silver medal in the men’s 1500 metres at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal on Monday.
Achintha clocked 3:59.08 in the closely contested final, finishing just 0.35 seconds behind Ethiopia’s Wabi Seblega, who won the gold medal in 3:58.73. Spain’s Alex Sangil took the bronze in 3:59.70.
After setting the pace of the race leading the first two laps, the former St. Aloysius’ College, Ratnapura runner had to fight hard in the last lap to settle for silver.
Achintha’s performance is the best by a Sri Lankan at these games and he is only the second Sri Lankan to win a medal at the Youth Olympics. The country’s previous medal came when Parami Wasanthi Maristell won bronze in the women’s 2000m steeplechase at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.
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