Arshad Nadeem to compete against India’s Neeraj Chopra in World Athletics Championship final

KARACHI: Pakistan’s ace athlete Arshad Naeem has qualified for the final of the men’s Javelin Throw event in the World Athletics Championship being played in Oregon, USA, along with 12 others including India's Neeraj Chopra.

Arshad threw at 81.71m during his group B qualifying round to finish overall 9th and confirm his place in the final which is scheduled to be played on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Pakistani javelin thrower was placed in group B and was 2nd in sequence to throw the javelin. In the first attempt, he could throw at a distance of 76.15m while 2nd throw reached at a distance of 74.38m.

However, his best came in his third attempt in which he achieved the 81.71m mark — enough to keep him among the top 12 to qualify for the final.

This was also his season’s best throw.

Arshad will be joined by Germany’s Anderson Peters, India’s Neeraj Chopra, Germany’s Julian Weber, Czech Republic’s Jakub Vedlejch, Egypt’s Ehab Abdelrehman, Finland’s Oliver Helander, Japan’s Roderick Genki Dean, USA’s Curtis Thompson, Maldives’ Andrian Maldare, India’s Rohit Yadav and Finland’s Lassi Etelatalo.

Arshad came into the limelight last year when he qualified for the final in Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first-ever Pakistani athlete to play the final of any track and field event in the history of the Olympics.