PSB claims govt extended all-out support to Arshad Nadeem

KARACHI: The government has always "stood firmly" behind Arshad Nadeem throughout his sports career and provided him with "unwavering financial and technical support”, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) said in a statement on Friday.

The sports board's claim came a day after the athlete created history with his unbeatable record in the Paris Olympics as he also won the country's first ever individual gold medal.

Arshad got the gold medal at the Paris Olympics with a massive throw of 92.97m, which was also a new Olympic and Asia record.

The government remained under criticism, and rightly so, for not providing enough support to the Athlete, who won his 9th international medal for Pakistan since 2016.

“The government has stood firmly behind Arshad Nadeem throughout his career, providing unwavering financial and technical support,” reads the message sent on IPC and PSB WhatsApp groups for the media.

“With the Pakistan Sports Board and Athletics Federation at the helm, his training — whether at home or abroad — has been meticulously arranged. In just the past three years, Mr Arshad has been honoured with Rs22 million in cash awards. Moreover, in the 2023-24 financial year, Rs69 million was dedicated to the Athletics Federation to uplift athletes across the nation,” the statement added.

According to a breakup provided to Geo News by PSB, a large sum of 2.2m was the prize money Arshad deserved for winning various medals for Pakistan.

He was also provided Rs10 million under the head of “medical treatment” in April earlier this year.

Other rewards include Rs5 million each for the gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games and a silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championship while one million each for winning medals in four different events.

When asked, the PSB official said that the board is still finalising and summarising the details spent on Arshad’s training in South Africa.

It is worth mentioning that Arshad’s main competitor Neeraj Chopra had a budget of around 5.71 crores INR which is around 19 crores in Pakistani currency.