Pakistan’s hope Arshad Nadeem qualifies for 7th August final competition in Tokyo Olympics…….

Pakistan’s hope Arshad Nadeem qualifies for final competition in Tokyo Olympics………..Report; ASGHAR ALI MUBARAK
Tokyo: Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem has qualified for the final competition in Tokyo Olympics.Pakistan’s last hope in the Tokyo Olympics Arshad Nadeem was in action for group stages of the javelin throw competition today.Speaking to this corespondent , Nadeem said he got enough time to prepare for this competition “My preparations are in full swing and I am getting enough time here with international athletes. I am confident to win a medal here and fulfil the expectations of Pakistanis for a medal, pray for me,” he said. Arshad, 24, was Pakistan’s first ever track and field athlete to directly qualify for the Olympic Games when he made a throw of 86.29m in the South Asian Games at Katmandu.Arshad’s current world ranking is 23. However his seasonal best, which is also his personal best – a throw of 86.38 – is one of the best ten throws of the season. His medal winning throw in Iran in April this year puts him at 7th among the top best throwers of the season.A total of 32 contestants were divided in two groups of 16 each. According to qualification criteria, athletes with a throw of minimum 83.50m or at least 12 best performers advance to the final scheduled for August 7 .He topped qualification Group B and was one of the 6 throwers who made the automatic qualification mark.India’s Shivpal Singh failed to qualify for the Men’s Javelin final at Tokyo Olympics after finishing with a disappointing best throw of 76.40m. Shivpal Singh finished 27th after registering 76.40m in his first attempt. He was not able to better his first throw as he marked 74.80m and 74.81m in his next 2 attempts in Qualification Group B.Nonetheless, Asian Games gold medalist Neeraj Chopra topped the qualification with a stunning throw of 86.65m. Neeraj needed just one throw to go past the automatic qualification mark of 83.50. No thrower was able to go past Neeraj’s mark in Wednesday’s qualification.Gold medal favourite Johannes Vetter of Germany, who has had 7 throws of 90-plus in 2021, needed a superb 3rd attempt of 85.64m to qualifiy at the 2nd spot.However, London Olympics gold medallist and Rio Olympics bronze medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago failed to make the 12-man final. He finished with a best throw of 79.33.On the other hand, Asian Games bronze medallist Pakistani athlete Nadeem Arshad stunned the field with a best throw of 85.16m. He topped qualification Group B and was one of the 6 throwers who made the automatic qualification mark.Notably, Arshad had said in 2018 that he is inspired from Neeraj and wants to emulate the Indian superstar. The Pakistan athlete had won the Asian Games bronze when Neeraj finished on the top step of the podium 3 years ago. Arshad came into the limelight in 2016 when he won the bronze at the South Asian Games in Guwahati, throwing the javelin for 78.33m. It must be noted here that Nadeem will now participate in the Javelin Throw final is on scheduled for August 7. He was placed in group B for the javelin throw competition and qualified for the final competition started at 6:35am Pakistan time. Pakistan’s last hope in the Tokyo Olympics Arshad Nadeem was in action for group stages of the javelin throw competition.Arshad, 24, was Pakistan’s first ever track and field athlete to directly qualify for the Olympic Games when he made a throw of 86.29m in the South Asian Games at Katmandu. He was placed alongside world number three Chao-Tsun Cheng and world number five Anderson Peters.Arshad’s current world ranking is 23. However his seasonal best, which is also his personal best – a throw of 86.38 – is one of the best ten throws of the season. His medal winning throw in Iran in April this year puts him at 7th among the top best throwers of the season.A total of 32 contestants were divided in two groups of 16 each. According to qualification criteria, athletes with a throw of minimum 83.50m or at least 12 best performers advance to the final. Arshad is considered to be one of the finest javelin throwers in South Asia. He first came into the limelight in 2016 when he won the bronze at the South Asian Games in Guwahati, throwing the javelin for 78.33m, his first national record then.Since then, he has been improving his marks in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, where he also bagged a bronze medal for Pakistan, Arshad threw the javelin for 80.75m, another new national record for him.

In the world championship at Doha, Arshad improved further and achieved the 81.52 mark before further improving it at the national games in 2019, with a throw of 83.65m. In the South Asian games in 2019, he threw 86.29m, that also earned him a ticket to Tokyo.Earlier this year in Iran, he threw 86.38m.In the 2016 Rio Olympics, Germany’s Thomas Rohler had won a gold medal with a throw of 90.30m. The Olympic record in javelin throw is 90.58, achieved by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen in 2008.More over Arshad Nadeem was born January 2, 1997 is a Pakistani athlete specialising in the javelin throw. He represents WAPDA in domestic competition. In Dec 2019, he established a new South Asian Games record in Javelin throw with a distance of 86.29 m, thus securing direct qualification to 2020 Summer Olympics. Arshad Nadeem belongs to Mian Channu, a small city in Khanewal District, Punjab. He is the 3rd oldest among five brothers. Arshad was an exceptionally versatile athlete from his early school years. Though he dabbled 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 district-level tape-ball tournaments. Upon entering grade seven in school, Arshad caught the eye of Rasheed Ahmad Saqi during an athletics competition. Saqi had a history of developing sportspeople in the division.Before settling on Javelin throw, Arshad also pursued shot-put and discus throw. Gold medals in Javelin throw in successive Punjab Youth Festivals and an inter-board meet propelled him on to the national stage, bringing offers from all the leading domestic athletics teams, including Army, Air Force and WAPDA.In May 2017, Nadeem won a bronze medal with a best throw of 76.33 metres at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku.

In April 2018, he set a new personal best of 80.45 metres in the qualification round of the javelin throw event at the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia. In August 2018, he won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he set a new personal best and national record of 80.75m.
As the only Pakistani athlete at the 2019 World Athletics Championships[5] in Doha, Qatar, Nadeem achieved a new personal best and national record of 81.52m. In November 2019, Nadeem set a national record when he recorded an 83.65 metre throw to win gold for WAPDA at the 33rd National Games in Peshawar. In December 2019, he won a gold medal with an 86.29 metre games record throw at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal.