Arshad Nadeem in high spirits to earn medal for Pakistan at Olympics

• Arshad’s throw of 85.16m brought him into the final game on Wednesday.
• Arshad is one of 12 contestants appearing in the final contest.
• He is Pakistan’s national javelin throw champion, undefeated since 2015.

KARACHI: Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem, high in spirits to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, will compete in the javelin throw final at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday evening.

Arshad, a gold medalist in South Asian Games and bronze medalist in Asian Games, is one of the 12 contestants appearing in the final contest, which is scheduled to start at 4pm according to Pakistan Standard Time.

Each of these throwers is entitled to three throws in round one of the final game. After using all three chances, the four at the bottom will be eliminated from the race for the medals and the rest will receive an additional three throws. 

The six best throws will be taken into account.

Arshad enters final round

Arahad Nadeem is the first-ever Pakistani athlete to qualify for the final of any track and field event in the Olympics.

Arshad’s throw of 85.16m was the best in his group earlier, in the group stage of the javelin throw. The attempt had brought him into the final game on Wednesday, giving the nation hope of the athlete bringing home a medal.

Later, he stood third in the overall group stage with India’s Neeraj Chopra and Germany’s Johannes Vetter on first and second positions, respectively.

The 24-year-old athlete is considered one of the strongest contenders to win the medals.

Having the season and personal best of 86.38m, Arshad has put himself among top athletes of the competition, with only three athletes — Johannes Vetter (96.29m), Neeraj Chopra (88.07) and Andrian Mardare (86.66) ahead of him.

All eyes on Arshad for next Olympics medal

Arshad is Pakistan’s national javelin throw champion, undefeated since 2015. However, he has broken his own national records seven times during the last six years.

Pakistanis have their eyes set on Arshad as Pakistan has not won an Olympic medal since 1992. The last Olympic medal for country was a bronze, claimed by the Hockey team at Barcelona.

 Before that, Boxer Hussain Shah had brought an individual medal home in 1988.