‘We need to find a back-up javelin thrower,’ says Arshad’s coach

KARACHI: Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari, a key architect behind javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem’s world-class performances and his former coach, on Friday said that the country’s athletics governing body (AFP) should prepare back-up for Arshad.

‘No doubt Arshad is there and is performing but where is his back-up?’ Bukhari said during an interview with ‘The News’. ‘Pakistan became popular in the world athletics because of Arshad’s amazing exploits but in order to extend this legacy the authorities will need to prepare his back-up,’ Bukhari said.

It was Bukhari who coached Arshad for around seven years and helped him qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Bukhari, also a WAPDA coach, started working with Arshad in 2015 when he was a teenager. At that time Arshad’s throw was 55 metre. Bukhari worked hard with Arshad and he is now regarded a popular world-level athlete, having beaten world champions in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year to clinch gold for the country with a stunning throw of 90.18m which is also the Games record.

But the saddest thing is that Bukhari was ignored by the authorities following the Tokyo Olympics which was a big source of popularity for Arshad when he finished fifth in that grand event.

Bukhari was not sent with Arshad to the US for the World Championships where he finished fifth last year. Bukhari was again not sent with Arshad to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and Islamic Games in Turkey.

Although AFP invited him to a press conference which it arranged at Lahore when Arshad returned from Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games where he got back-to-back golds, practically Bukhari is no more a coach at the national level.

‘We have Pakistan No2 Yasir and there is another boy from Army who throws around 70 metre. The authorities should focus on them so that the country could prepare another thrower,’ Bukhari said.

‘Arshad is a big asset. I have worked very hard with him and I will be happy if he is kept well,’ Bukhari said. Asked how difficult it is for him that despite having delivered such a huge service by making Arshad a global level athlete he is no more a coach at the national level Bukhari said he is happy to have given the homeland a precious jewel.

‘I don’t know the policy of the AFP but I am happy that God enabled me to prepare such an athlete in the shape of Arshad who created a stir in the athletics world and made Pakistan popular,’ Bukhari said.

Bukhari also runs an academy by the name of Fayyaz Bukhari Javelin Throw Training Centre at the Government College University in Lahore where Yasir also trains under him. ‘I have a few good youngsters including my son Hussain Bukhari and inshaAllah I will give Pakistan another big athlete in the next few years,’ Bukhari said.

‘There is immense talent in Pakistan. Every second person plays cricket and you can get talent from anywhere. You know Arshad too was a fast bowler and you see him now as a leading javelin thrower of the world,’ Bukhari said.

Under Bukhari as a coach Arshad managed an 86.29m throw in the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal which was enough for the athlete to book Tokyo Olympics berth where he finished fifth.

Arshad then managed an 86.38m throw in an international meet in Iran before the Olympics. Arshad could have thrown 90 metre in that meet but he did not attempt because he had to leave a shot for the Tokyo Olympics as a strategy. And then Arshad never looked back, creating records.