Walcott | Pakistan

TOKYO: The night was Keshorn Walcott’s from the start. Right from the second throw, he had the lead in the men’s javelin final. The highly-anticipated clash of the South Asian titans — Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra — failed to gain momentum in the sold-out Japan National Stadium that turned its attention to Walcott on his way to winning his maiden world title. Walcott’s win, thanks to a season’s best 88.16m throw, was pleasantly surprising but not entirely unexpected given he was ranked fourth in the world coming into the World Athletics Championships. Anderson Peters of Grenada was the favorite for gold after an “unexpected’ 89.53m throw in the qualifiers. Curtis Thompson was another surprise of the night as he took bronze in an event the US hasn’t medalled in since 2007. But the burden of expectations was largely on Arshad and Chopra; one an Olympic champion, one the reigning champion, both poster boys for sporting excellence and Pakistan-India rivalry outside of cricket. A brotherly relationship kindled ...