Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan qualifies for final javelin throw competition in Tokyo Olympics
Arshad Nadeem qualifies for final Javelin throw competition in Tokyo Olympics
Wednesday: Arshad Nadeem has kept Pakistan’s hopes of its maiden medal at the Tokyo Olympics alive as he went through to the final of the men’s javelin with a throw of 85.16 meters.
Arshad Nadeem
Hailing from Mian Channu, Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani athlete who specializes in the javelin throw. He represents WAPDA in domestic competition.
In Dec 2019, he established a new South Asian Games record in the Javelin throw with a distance of 86.29 m, thus securing direct qualification to the 2020 Summer Olympics. Nadeem is the first-ever Pakistani athlete to qualify for the final of any track and field event in the Olympics.
Tokyo Olympics
He was placed in group B for the contest in which the athlete had to throw a minimum of 83.5m to directly qualify for the final. Only six athletes could do so, and Arshad was one of them while the rest of the six athletes advanced to the finals on basis of their respective farthest throw.
Nadeem will be joined by Finland’s Lassi Eteltalo, whose first attempt of 84.50m, a season’s best, granted him passage to the medal round.
Arshad’s main competitors will be India’s Neeraj Chopra and Germany’s Johannes Vetter. The fact that some of the best javelin throwers did not make it to the final.
Also Read: Pakistani weightlifter Talha Talib falls two kilograms short of bronze in Tokyo Olympics
Among them are Julius Yego (PB 92.72m), Chao-Tsun Cheng (PB 91.36m), Keshorn Walcott (PB 90.16m), Marcin Krukowski (PB 89.55m) Bernhard Seifert (PB 89.06m) and Anderson Peters (PB 87.31m).
Arshad, who once wanted to be a cricketer before making it to the Olympics, had said that he would be eyeing a 90m throw in Olympics. To mention that the World Record for Olympics in Javelin throw is 90.57m by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen in 2009.
Have something to add to the story? Comment down below!