ISLAMABAD: Fatima Zahra won Pakistan its first medal at the Commonwealth Games 2026 after bagging bronze at the global competition after javelin star Arshad Nadeem failed to finish among the top eight on Friday.
Zahra defeated New Zealand’s Jordan Wilson 5-0 to reach the women’s 60kg semifinals in Glasgow earlier during the week. The victory guaranteed Zahra bronze under the competition’s format, in which both losing semifinalists receive bronze. It also ended Pakistan’s 12-year Commonwealth Games boxing medal drought, according to the Pakistan Boxing Federation.
The Pakistani boxer lost to Canada’s Marie Al Mahdieh in the semifinals on Friday, who ended up with a silver medal.
“Pakistan women’s boxing will be much more improved by this and seeing me this way other girls will also join boxing,” Zahra said after the fight.
Zahra hoped the medal would help earn more tours and training opportunities for women boxers in the country.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage stunned India’s Neeraj Chopra to win javelin gold on Friday while Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem failed to finish in top 8.
The javelin was billed a showdown between Chopra and Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem.
But it was Pathirage, who honed his javelin power as a prodigious young cricket bowler, who stormed to victory by nearly four meters with a best effort of 89.75.
Chopra took silver ahead of compatriot Yash Vir Singh, but Nadeem was well down in ninth.
