"Could have thrown better," says Sachin Yadav's coach Naval Singh after silver win at Asian C'ships

Sachin Yadav kept his promise of putting up his best performance at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi, South Korea on Saturday.

He claimed his first international medal with a personal best 85.16m in men's javelin throw.

But, Sachin’s coach Naval Singh was certainly not pleased with his silver-winning performance and believed his ward could have fared better.

“In my opinion it wasn’t a very good competition. Sachin is a regular with 84-85m throws, he could have thrown better. He is the kind of thrower who easily improves around 5m from his first throw,” Naval Singh told The Bridge from Gumi on Saturday.

“I was expecting him to start with 84-85m. Had he done that he would have easily beaten Arshad. Both were hovering at 85m mark till Arshad got ahead in his last throw. But the weather was not favourable. Body was stiff,” he added.

The continental meet was Sachin’s first international tournament. The Indian was eyeing the World Championship qualification mark of 85.50m.

“Life mein pehli baar India se bahar aya hai. (He has travelled abroad for the first time in his life). He was only used to training in the Indian conditions,” he said.

More than the performance, what unsettled the coach was the ambience from Pakistani fans.

“There were so many Pakistani supporters in the stadium, they were all hooting. It felt bad the way they were trying to distract our players. You show support to your country and players but don’t demoralise the opponents,” he concluded.

Sachin and his coach will now head to Finland (June 11) for more international exposure and a shot at the World Championship.

“We have taken permission from AFI and will now be heading to Finland for 2-3 competitions where world class throwers will take part,” he concluded.