Javelin thrower Arshad to train in Mauritius for eight months

KARACHI: Pakistan’s highly talented javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem is set to undergo around eight months training in the world athletics governing body’s (IAAF) High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) in Mauritius.

The Mian Channu-born young athlete will train under highly-qualified coaches on scholarship. “Yes, Arshad will train for around eight months,” Athletics Federation of Pakistan’s (AFP) secretary Mohammad Zafar told ‘The News’ on Wednesday.

“We had requested the IAAF and it agreed to provide an opportunity to our budding athlete,” Zafar said.

“We are in contact with the director of the centre and have already sent him Arshad’s documents and passport and hopefully they will send us the permit soon,” the official said.

Arshad is likely to proceed to Mauritius in early December.

“He will train there till July 31, 2017. We have informed the centre that we would like to send Arshad on December 1,” Zafar said.

Arshad shot to fame when he threw javelin for 78.33m in the South Asian Games in Indian city of Guwahati early this year. His bronze medal enabled him to achieve world’s fourth rank in the IAAF Under-20 world rankings.

Neeraj Chopra of India claimed gold with 82.23m, which pushed him to the top of IAAF Under-20 rankings. Sumeda Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka had secured silver with 80.25m.

Arshad grabbed bronze in the Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Vietnam in June with a 73.40 throw despite an injured elbow that had disturbed the athlete in the South Asian Games too.

“If he is able to reach 88m, he will certainly become an Olympic hope for Pakistan,” the official said.

Arshad said that it would help him polish his techniques. “The training there will help me a lot. My target is to reach 90m. If I achieved that it would help me not only to compete in the Olympics but also augment my medal chances in other major international events,” Arshad told this correspondent.

“I am thankful to the AFP for the opportunity it has managed for me,” said Arshad, who represents WAPDA at the domestic level.

About his elbow injury, he said he was now fit. “Thanks God, I am now fully fit,” the athlete said.

Arshad was part of Pakistan juniors’ camp which was disbanded in Islamabad on Tuesday. The camp, having around 40 athletes, had been set up to form a team for the 3rd South Asian Junior Athletics Championship which was scheduled to be held in Lucknow from October 19-20. However, the event was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.

Despite the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) decision to postpone the competitions the AFP did not close the preparations as it hoped that the competitions might be shifted to some other country of South Asia. But it did not happen.

Pakistan will field athletes in the Islamic Games to be held from May 12-22 next year in Baku. “Our general body meets soon and then we will reveal the details about the camp,” Zafar said.