Arshad to leave on July 15 for World Athletics

KARACHI: Olympian Arshad Nadeem, the country's premier javelin thrower, will leave for the United States on July 15 to feature in the World Athletics Championship which will be held in Eugene, Oregon, from July 15-24.

“He will leave for the US on July 15,” a senior official of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) told 'The News' on Thursday.

Initially the AFP was considering sending Arshad to the US a few days earlier to enable him to acclimatise and also undergo some training.

“Yes, we were planning like that but Arshad had some issues and he told us that he is more comfortable here so we decided against that plan,” the official said. The global event is really a testing time for Arshad who is nursing an elbow injury which may create a big issue for the Asian Games bronze medallist.

He is training at Lahore's PSB Coaching Centre these days. The rest of the athletes shifted to Islamabad last week to undergo training for the Commonwealth Games. But Arshad stayed at Lahore and is targeting a good performance in the US mega event. “Arshad is training hard and inshaAllah he will do well in the US,” the AFP official said.

The AFC secretary Mohammad Zafar and president Maj Gen (retd) Akram Sahi will also go to the US. It was learnt that Zafar will go along with Arshad. The South African coach Terseus Liebenberg will join him in the US.

“His schedule is not yet confirmed but he will join Arshad in Oregon,” the AFP official said.

Terseus imparted training to Arshad and Pakistan's No2 javelin thrower Mohammad Yasir in South Africa for two months early this year. According to the AFP, Arshad is still training on the same pattern under which Terseus had trained him in Johannesburg.

Arshad will feature in the javelin throw qualification stage on July 21. The finals will be held on July 23.

Arshad's personal best throw is 86.38 metre which he managed during an international event in Iran in April last year.

But Arshad failed to maintain his top performance during the Tokyo Olympics where he finished overall fifth despite finishing at the top in his group in the qualification stage.