Confident Arshad to face world’s best throwers today

LAHORE: Pakistan’s premier javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem will be desperately looking to shrug off his rustiness before his next month’s meet in the Paris Olympics when he competes at the Diamond League on Sunday (today) in Paris.

This will be after one year that the world silver medallist Arshad will be appearing in a competitive event.

Arshad, who also holds Commonwealth Games record with his personal best throw of 90.18 metre in Birmingham in 2022, battled a knee injury for quite some time which also forced him to undergo laser surgery in London a few months ago.

But now he is fine and is hopeful for a medal in the Diamond League which is an invitational event carrying decent cash prizes.

“Yes it’s okay. InshaAllah I will win a medal,” Arshad told The News from Paris on Saturday.

Arshad has passed through rigorous training both in South Africa and also in Lahore and it is expected that the Olympian will return to international circuit with a bang.

His coach Salman Butt was also hopeful about Arshad’s chances in the Diamond League before leaving for Paris.

Arshad will be competing against tough opponents from around the world, also including the two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Zchech Republic, the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena of India, Arthur Felfner of Ukraine, Toni Keranen of Finland, European Championship bronze medallist Marcin Krukowski of Poland, Andrian Mardara of Maldova and Edis Matusevicius of Lithuania are the others who are set to compete in the Diamond League.

After featuring in Diamond League, Arshad will return home on July 8 before moving back to Paris on July 24 to feature in the Paris Olympics javelin event which will be held on August 6.

This will be the second time that Arshad will be competing in the Olympics after having finished fifth on his debut Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.