A javelin imported from Sweden for Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage was handed over to him in Japan on Thursday (24), Hiru News reported. The implement was brought in by the Ministry of Sports on the thrower’s behalf.
Hiru says the javelin event Tharanga is contesting at the Asian Games is scheduled for the 28th.
The delivery closes, at least in part, a saga that began eleven days earlier. Tharanga returned from Budapest on 15 September to find his competition javelins broken — equipment he valued at more than Rs. 2 million, damaged in transit after he won the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Turkish Airlines later agreed to compensate him following a civil aviation inquiry.
Competition javelins are not interchangeable stock. They are matched to a thrower’s technique and used across seasons, which is why a replacement set arriving days before a continental final matters more than the cost suggests.
The Sports Ministry pledged a new set on 15 September. Separately, Araliya Group chairman Dudley Sirisena promised to supply Tharanga with javelins every year until he wins an Olympic gold. Hiru credits Thursday’s delivery to the Ministry and does not mention the Sirisena pledge.
Tharanga, 23, held world No. 1 in the javelin as of 18 September and was named to lead Sri Lanka’s Asian Games contingent — the country’s largest ever, at 156 athletes across 26 sports in Aichi-Nagoya.
The photograph carries its own evidence
Hiru’s image shows three men in Sri Lanka team kit holding a single javelin inside a building with Japanese signage. The kit carries the Sri Lanka Olympic Committee rings and an Asian Games emblem. It corroborates both the handover and its location, though no outlet names the two men with Tharanga.
Not reported
Hiru refers to “the javelin” in the singular, where the damaged set numbered four or five depending on the outlet. It does not say how many implements were delivered, what they cost, who paid, or which manufacturer supplied them. It does not name the officials who made the handover, explain why a delivery on the 24th was reported on the 26th, or say whether Tharanga has had any competition throws with the new equipment. It gives no qualifying-round date or result, and no other verified newsroom had filed on the handover at the time of writing.
