Arshad Nadeem is a Pakistani athlete who excels in javelin throwing. In domestic competition, he represents the WAPDA. He established a new South Asian Games record in the Javelin throw in December 2019 with a distance of 86.29m, earning direct qualification to the 2020 Summer Olympics. It made him the country’s first track-and-field athlete to do so and the first Pakistani to compete in the final of any track-and-field event at the Olympics.
Early Life of Arshad Nadeem
Arshad Nadeem is from Mian Channu, a small town in Khanewal District, Punjab, and comes from a low-income family. In a Punjabi household, he is the third oldest of five brothers. His father worked as a mason. Arshad a gifted athlete who excelled in various sports from the time he was in elementary school. Though he experimented in all of the sports available at his school — cricket, badminton, football, and athletics — cricket was his love, and he quickly found himself competing in district-level tape-ball competitions.
Arshad attracted Rasheed Ahmad Saqi’s attention during an athletics tournament while he was in grade seven. After that, Arshad tried shot-put and discus throw before focusing on Javelin’s throw. Gold in the Javelin throw at successive Punjab Youth Festivals and an inter-board meet catapulted him to the national scene, attracting offers from all top domestic sports teams, including the Army and Air Force WAPDA. His father, Muhammad Ashraf, pushed him to participate in javelin throwing.
Career of Javelin Throw
In 2015, he began competing in javelin throw competitions. Then, in 2016, he was awarded a World Athletics scholarship, allowing him to train at Mauritius’s IAAF High-Performance Training Centre. Nadeem earned a bronze medal with a best throw of 76.33 meters in the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku in May 2017. In April 2018, he established a new personal best of 80.45 meters in the javelin throw qualification round at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. He earned a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, in August 2018, when he established a new personal best and national record of 80.75m.
As the lone Pakistani participant at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, With a distance of 81.52m, Nadeem achieved a new personal best and national record. Arshad Nadeem established a national record in November 2019 when he threw an 83.65-meter javelin to earn gold for WAPDA in the 33rd National Games in Peshawar. In addition, he earned a gold medal with an 86.29-meter games record throw in the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in December 2019.
Hard Work of Arshad Nadeem & Tokyo Olympics 2021
He made his Olympic debut, representing Pakistan in the 2020 Summer Olympics, and became the first Pakistani track and field athlete to receive a direct qualification. However, Arshad’s father said that he didn’t get supplied with a proper training facility before competing in the Olympics; as a result, ICS. As a result, Arshad trained in the courtyards and alleys of his own home and is thought to have received no financial help from the Pakistani government after qualifying to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.
He qualified for the men’s javelin throw final in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on August 4, 2021. Thus, he became the first Pakistani to be eligible for the finals of any track and field event in Olympic history. With a throw of 84.62m, he finished fifth in the men’s javelin throw event.
Looking at Arshad Nadeem’s career, we can see how he built himself from nothing to the Olympics. Arshad Nadeem showed great promise in javelin throwing and participated in competitions where he did well despite all odds. He is a national hero, winning the hearts of many as a successful athlete, and his defeat in the Olympics does not reduce his accomplishments in any way.
