GLASGOW: Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem safely booked his place in the men’s javelin throw final while compatriot Muhammad Yasir Sultan fell short of qualification as Pakistan endured a mixed day at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

Competing in Group ‘A’ of the qualification round at Scotstoun Stadium, Arshad finished seventh with a season-best throw of 78.63 metres to progress to Friday’s final as one of the 12 best performers.

The difficult conditions, with a strong headwind preventing any athlete from reaching the automatic qualifying mark of 84 metres, meant places in the final were decided on the next best distances.

Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage topped the group with 82.84m, ahead of Grenada’s Anderson Peters (81.29m) and South Africa’s Douw Smit (80.64m). India’s Neeraj Chopra also advanced after throwing 79.61m.

Arshad secured qualification with his opening attempt of 78.63m before fouling his second throw and registering 75.65m with his third.

Yasir, meanwhile, failed to make the cut after producing a season-best effort of 74.36m. The Pakistani opened with a foul before throwing 71.42m and improving to 74.36m on his final attempt to finish 14th overall.

The men’s javelin final is scheduled for Friday, with the event set to begin at 7:45pm Pakistan Standard Time.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s lawn bowls pair of Maqsood Waseem Khan and Mohammed Ayub Qureshi suffered a heavy 2-0 defeat to Northern Ireland in their second Section D match at SEC Hall 3.

The Pakistanis managed just one point in the opening set, losing it 11-1, before being blanked 16-0 in the second as Northern Ireland completed a comfortable victory.

It was Pakistan’s second successive defeat in the men’s pairs competition, leaving the duo with an uphill task of keeping their campaign alive.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2026