Karachi, Pakistan, April 16, 2021: Pakistan’s only athlete to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics directly, javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, broke his own national record on Monday, April 13, at his first international competition since the 2019 South Asian Games.
Nadeem claimed the gold medal in the International Imam Reza Cup in the Iranian city of Mashhad with a throw of 86.38 metres.
It surpassed his previous best of 86.29m which won the gold medal at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu and earned him a berth at the Tokyo Games.
“It’s great and I am proud that through just three months training I managed to do my personal best,” Nadeem told Pakistan media, The News, from Mashhad.” I am happy to set a new national record at this event as athletes from around 11 to 12 countries were participating.”
Athletics Federation of Pakistan President Major Gen (retd.) Akram Sahi was delighted with Nadeem’s feat.
“We are very satisfied with Arshad’s progress and it has proved we are moving in the right direction. With the way he has improved we are now very much hopeful that, if he goes well, he will win a medal in the Tokyo Olympics,” Sahi said.
Nadeem, 24, will now move on to Turkey for a three-week training stint with a trainer from Kazakhstan, Viktor Yevsyukov, who has been helping him online to improve his technique for the past few months.
Yevsyukov represented the Soviet Union in 1987 at the World Championships in Rome where he won the silver medal.
Pakistan athletics chief Sahi added: “In Turkey we want Arshad under the watch of Viktor, who has the ability to bring further improvement in Arshad’s performance. Arshad has been receiving tips online from Viktor during his last three-month training in Lahore.”
