Sri Lankan javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga has created history. While making his debut in the Diamond League, Tharanga broke the record of India’s Neeraj Chopra by covering a distance of 92.62. Neeraj Chopra had made a throw of 90.23 meters last year. He was the third Asian athlete to throw the javelin the farthest but Tharanga overtook him with a record throw in Rome on Thursday (June 4). Tharanga overtook Neeraj as well as Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Chao-tsun (91.36 metres).
Tharanga has now come second in the all-time list of Asian athletes. Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan is at number one in this list. Arshad Nadeem won the gold medal in Paris Olympics 2024 with a throw of 92.97 meters. Tharanga came close to leaving him behind but missed by a very narrow margin.
Rumesh Tharanga has broken ties with cricket and has taken up javelin thrower. At one time in Sri Lanka, he was counted among the fastest bowlers at the junior level. At the age of 16, he bowled the ball at a speed of 134 kilometers per hour. However, he decided to leave cricket and pursue a career in track and field. Tharanga, who was once a fan of Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc, now considers Neeraj and Arshad as his inspiration.
Tharanga’s father is in the police. Apart from cricket, Tharanga kept trying his hand in track and field since the beginning. He wanted to pursue his career in both sports but considering the risk of injury, he focused on javelin. This decision was not easy, because along with the glamor in cricket, the earning is also tremendous. While track and field lacks funds, considering the politics in Sri Lankan cricket, they adopted Javilon.
23-year-old Rumesh Tharanga came into limelight for the first time in the 2024 Asian Championships. He won the gold medal with a throw of 85.45 meters. To qualify for the Paris Olympics, the distance he had to cover was 85.50 metres, which Tharanga missed by just 5 centimetres.
