Due to visa issues and time constraints, the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) Secretary-General, Mohammad Zafar, has announced that the country’s top javelin thrower, Arshad Nadeem, would not be going to South Africa for the World Championship.
Arshad Nadeem will compete for Pakistan at the upcoming World Athletics Championships 2022, which will be held in Eugene, Oregon, from July 15 to 24, 2022.
Arshad just returned from South Africa, where he and a fellow athlete, Mohammad Yasir, were training. He’d also spent a few months in Lahore under the virtual supervision of Terseus Liebenberg.
Mohammad Zafar told the reporters that the official date for sending Nadeem to the United States is July 12, but they want to send him a few days before the event so he can practice in that setting.
“We’ll talk about if we can send him to the US before July 1 for a few days of training in that environment.” Officially, and according to World Championship regulations, we may transfer him to the United States by July 12, but we want to send him earlier because we scrapped the prior plan to send him back to South Africa after obtaining a new visa,” the official added.
“I plan to leave for Lahore today to join the camp as I cannot waste time due to some major events ahead. I don’t know whether I will go back to South Africa as it will be decided by the federation but I think that going to the US a few days earlier will be of immense value for me ahead of the World Championship,” said Arshad.