Arshad falls well short of his personal best

Sahi wants to get a decent job for the javelin thrower

KARACHI: After having fallen in the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Poland on Friday, the athletics authorities of Pakistan have decided to work seriously on javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem who was ranked fourth in the world before his poor showing in the global event.

“Definitely he did not keep his performance and there are certain factors which might have affected his performance and effort would be made to address them,” Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) President Major Gen (retd) Akram Sahi told ‘The News’ on Saturday.

“There is no doubt that Arshad is a great talent. We had sent him to Poland because of his performance in international circuit,” Sahi said.

Arshad finished 15th out of 18 athletes in Group I in the qualifying round of the World Under-20 Athletics Championships by recording 67.17m throw that also forced his pre-mature exit from the competitions. His effort was much short of his personal best throw of 78.33m.

Arshad recently lifted bronze medal in the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Vietnam. He shot to fame when he snared bronze in the South Asian Games in India early this year by throwing the javelin upto 78.33metres. The achievement on his international debut also enabled him to achieve fourth spot in the world rankings. Arshad is accompanied by coach Major Shabbir on his Poland tour.

Sahi said that he had now decided to get a foreign coach for Arshad.

“Our coaching standard is not of that level which could prepare athletes for world level competitions. I have told Major Shabbir to contact with coaches of different nations in Poland. I have told him that we would give decent salary to the foreign coach. And let’s see what he does,” Sahi conceded.

“I feel that Arshad needs quality training. He can turn out to be an athlete of global repute. It would give a great boost to the athletics of our country if Arshad wins any medal in Olympics in future,” said Sahi, also a former international athlete.

Arshad has been suffering from an elbow injury for the last few months. In an interview with ‘The News’ recently, he had complained that he still had been feeling 30 to 40 percent pain in his elbow despite doing a regular massage.

And Sahi also agreed, saying, the same thing might have affected his performance in Poland.

“Injury may have impeded his effort,” Sahi said.

The son of a mason, Arshad also supports his father in his work and this is also a serious handicap in the growth of the athlete.

And Sahi said he would try to provide a decent job to Arshad.

“I want to seek such a job for Arshad so that he could earn more than what he earns, while serving WAPDA. I want to see him only play athletics and nothing else,” the AFP official said.