Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan’s star javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem made history on August 27, 2023 (Sunday) when he became the first Pakistan athlete to win the country’s first-ever medal at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary with his best 87.82-meter throw. The medal not only put the country’s flag on top but also Pakistan athletics in the limelight once again. India’s Neeraj Chopra was able to secure gold medal with his best throw of 88.17 meters while the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch took the bronze with 86.67 meters throw. Arshad, coming back from elbow surgery and a knee injury, produced his season’s best effort to win silver for his country. No Pakistan athlete, in 76 years of its creation, has ever won a medal at the World Athletics Championships. The medal at biennial track and field spectacle also gives hope that Arshad, who won gold at last year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games with the 90.18-metre throw, can end Pakistan’s long Olympic medal drought at next year’s Summer Games in Paris, France. Pakistan last won an Olympic medal at 1992 Barcelona, Spain through field hockey.

Arshad has proved to be Pakistan’s best bet and has showed that he belongs among the world’s elite throwers. Last year, Arshad also finished fifth in the World Championship in the USA. Arshad’s achievement in Budapest becomes even more remarkable considering the fact that this was his first international appearance in a year. He underwent surgeries after winning gold at last year’s Islamic Games and then had an extensive rehabilitation programme. In December 2019, Arshad, who represents Pakistan WAPDA in domestic competitions, established a new South Asian Games record in javelin throw with a distance of 86.29m, thus becoming the first Pakistan’s athlete to secure direct qualification to the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan in 2021.

Arshad is the third oldest among five brothers. Arshad was an exceptionally versatile athlete from his early school years. Though he dazzled in all the sports on offer in his school – cricket, badminton, football and athletics – his passion was cricket and he soon found himself playing it at the district-level tape-ball tournaments. Upon entering grade seven in school, Arshad came to the limelight at the divisional level. Before settling on javelin throw, Arshad also pursued shot-put and discus throw. Gold medals in javelin throw in the successive Punjab Youth Festivals and Inter-Board Meet propelled him on to the national stage, bringing offers from all the leading domestic athletics teams, including Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and WAPDA. Arshad got selected in the national junior team and won bronze at the Asian Junior Athletics Championships 2016 held in Hoh Chi Minh City in Vietnam. He also won bronze at the 2016 South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong, India.

In May 2017, Arshad won bronze medal with a best throw of 76.33m at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku. In April 2018, he set a new personal best of 80.45m in the qualification round of the javelin throw event at the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia. In August 2018, he won bronze medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he set a new personal best and national record of 80.75m. In 2021, Arshad, continued his fine performance as he earned gold medal at the Imam Raza Athletics Cup in Iran in April. In the process, he set a new Pakistan record by throwing the javelin at a distance of 86.38 metres to claim gold in Mashhad where the event was staged. No doubt, Arshad has made the unthinkable possible at Budapest. He has demonstrated that there is not much separation between him and golden splendour!