Arshad Nadeem’s coach defends Pakistan javelin thrower after below-par performance in World Championships

Since 2022, Nadeem has won the gold medal at the last Paris Olympics in 2024, gold in the 2022 Commonwealth games and silver medal at the 2022 World Championships.

Arshad Nadeem, of Pakistan, competes during the men's javelin throw qualification at the Paris 2024 Olympics. (AP Photo)

Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem did not have the best of times in the World Championships at Tokyo where he finished 10th. Following that, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had demanded an explanation for the below-par performance of the javelin thrower. Responding to that, Nadeem’s coach Salman Iqbal defended the athlete and gave a sharp reply to the PSB.

“Arshad’s performance was hampered by the surgery he underwent for his calf muscle problem and in Tokyo the track was hard and the weather hot and humid and this affected performances of many athletes in different events,” Iqbal said, as per PTI.

He also said that the Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation had totally disassociated itself from Nadeem’s training and campaigns for the last year or more, adding that he had to seek the help of one of his close friends to set up a training and rehabiliation program for Nadeem in South Africa after his injury. Iqbal also claimed that his friend also provided financial support to the athlete, as per PTI.

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Since 2022, Nadeem has won the gold medal at the last Paris Olympics in 2024, gold in the 2022 Commonwealth games and silver medal at the 2022 World Championships. He also comfortably won the Javelin gold in the Asian Athletics Championships this year.

A few months ago, Nadeem had claimed that not all promises made to him after last year’s Paris Olympics have been kept. The javelin thrower had alleged that some of the rewards announced turned out to be ‘fake’, especially the land plots.

Nadeem threw an Olympic record 92.97m at the Stade de France last August to beat Neeraj Chopra and win the Paris Games gold medal. Neeraj won the silver.

However, Geo TV quoted him as saying that while he received all the announced cash rewards, ‘every plot announcement was false. I haven’t received a single one.’ “Out of all the prize announcements made for me, all the plot announcements were fake, which I did not receive. Apart from that, I have received all the cash prizes that were announced,” Geo TV quoted him as saying.

(With agency inputs)