Pakistanis were all praises for Arshad Nadeem on Wednesday after he went through to the final of the men’s javelin at the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 85.16 metres.
Nadeem’s throw was third-best of the day behind India’s Neeraj Chopra (86.65m) and world leader Germany’s Johannes Vetter (85.64m).
The 24-year-old thrower from Khanewal finished above Germany’s Julian Weber and Czech’s Jakub Vadlejch to win his group and a place in the medal round — a performance that got his coach out of his seat applauding.
Even though the event was aired before 7am Pakistan Standard Time, Nadeem’s performance was quick to garner the attention of netizens, who prayed for the athlete to bring home a gold medal in the final scheduled for August 7.