NAGOYA: Pakistan endured a day of mixed fortunes at the Asian Games on Monday as Arshad Nadeem missed out on a javelin medal, the volleyball team overcame a venue mix-up to win, and the hockey side set up a blockbuster semi-final against arch-rivals India.

Arshad threw a season-best 80.29m but still finished fourth as Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage claimed javelin gold in a rain-soaked final at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.

The Olympic champion, competing under heavy skies and on a slick runway, had a difficult start, managing 76.69m on his first attempt before a foul on his second.

He improved drastically on his third with 80.29m to climb to fourth, but could not build on it — three consecutive fouls followed, ending his challenge.

Pathirage, the World No. 1 and heavy favourite, lived up to his billing. Third after three throws with 83.56m, he unleashed 88.33m on his fourth attempt, beating his chest in delight as he moved ahead of both Indians. He improved again in the sixth with 88.55m.

India’s Yashvir Singh took silver with a personal-best 85.72m on his final attempt, while compatriot Rohit Yadav claimed bronze with 82.15m. Pakistan’s Mohammad Yasir finished ninth, his best effort 73.50m.

The Sri Lankan’s dominance is all the more remarkable given the disruption to his season. Just two weeks before the Games, all five of his javelins — the same implements he used for every 90m throw this year — were found shattered after a flight from Budapest, where he had won the World Athletics Ultimate Championship.

The result caps a difficult season for Arshad, who has struggled to rediscover the form that saw him win Olympic gold in Paris with a record 92.97m throw.

Pathirage, by contrast, has been unstoppable. The 23-year-old has won 11 of his 12 competitions this year and claimed the Diamond League Final, Commonwealth gold and the World Ultimate title.

The volleyball team’s preparations were thrown into chaos after their bus driver took them to the wrong gymnasium shortly before their Pool A match against Uzbekistan, forcing players to change into their kits on the moving bus.

Captain Murad Jehan described it as “another mismanagement” in a video posted on Instagram.

“We have a very important match and the bus driver doesn’t know which gymnasium we are going to play,” he said. “He took a wrong way and came to a wrong gymnasium and now we are short of time. It’s an embarrassing situation.”

Pakistan brushed aside the disruption to win 25-18, 25-18, 25-20, with Murad leading the scoring on 14 points. Musawer Khan added 13, Usman Faryad Ali 10 and Mohammad Hamad 11.

Pakistan produced 48 successful spikes and dominated at the net, scoring 18 points from blocks compared to Uzbekistan’s five.

The victory followed Sunday’s 3-1 win over Kazakhstan and leaves Pakistan with two victories from two matches ahead of their final Pool A game against hosts Japan.

Pakistan completed their Asian Games hockey pool campaign with a commanding 7-2 victory over Oman, recovering from their defeat by Malaysia to finish the group stage strongly and set up a semi-final against India.

Rana Waheed scored a hat-trick, while Sufyan Khan struck twice from penalty corners — taking his tournament tally to 11 goals in five matches. Ghazanfar Ali and Mohammad Ammad added a goal apiece.

Pakistan added three goals in the third quarter through Waheed (34th), Ghazanfar (40th) and Waheed again (44th), before Ammad scored in the 46th and Waheed completed his hat-trick right before full time.

Pakistan face India on October 1 for a place in the final.

In squash, Pakistan’s men defeated the Philippines and Kuwait 3-0, while the women recovered from a 3-0 defeat by Hong Kong to beat Mongolia by the same margin.

In the long jump final, Ansar Abbas finished last among 12 participants with a jump of 7.09 metres.

At the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Muzammil Murtaza lost their men’s doubles first-round fixture to South Korea’s Seongchan Hong and Soonwoo Kwon 7-5, 6-4.

In shooting, Rabia Kabir finished 33rd in the women’s 25m pistol qualification with 567-13x.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026