Pakistan's female javelin throw champion hopeful of changed fortune for athletes

• Fatima won the Gold medal in the National Games 2019 with a throw of 43.93.
• She is also Pakistan’s national female Javelin throw champion, undefeated since 2016.
• “If I am provided with the opportunities, I am confident that I can win medals for the country too," she says.

The remarkable performance of Arshad Nadeem at the Tokyo Olympics has given new hope to many athletes in Pakistan who now believe that the country will start giving importance to athletes from sports other than cricket too.

Arshad became the first Pakistani athlete to qualify directly for track and field competitions in the history of the Olympics and also made his mark during the competition. And although he fell short of winning a medal but certainly won many hearts.

His female counterpart in Pakistan, Fatima Hussain – the female javelin throw champion – is now hopeful of a changed fortune for Pakistani athletes.

“We don’t get what we should’ve. Players around the world get frequent training camps and other facilities which are not available to us. We even don’t have proper training shoes for us and players are forced to use second-hand shoes and keep repairing them as most of them can’t afford new pair of shoes,” Fatima said while referring to the plight of athletes in Pakistan.

Fatima won the gold medal in the National Games 2019 with a throw of 43.93. She is also Pakistan’s national female Javelin throw champion, undefeated since 2016. But, she feels a lot is needed to be done.

“The international throw standard in female competitions is around 60m and that’s what I want to achieve, but to achieve this I need proper training and facilities, including coaching and other support. I hope that after Arshad Nadeem’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics, there will be some seriousness about athletics, specially Javelin throw,” she said.

“If I am provided with the opportunities, I am confident that I can win medals for the country too. I am currently aiming for medals in the Islamic Solidarity Games and South Asian Games,” Fatima stated.

Fatima feels that the story of Arshad Nadeem and Talha Talib in the Olympic Games should be enough to tell the country that sportspeople deserve some recognition and support and so that sports other than cricket would also get noticed.