AFP keen to rope in Arshad's South African coach Liebenberg to train next generation of javelin throwers

South African javelin throw coach Terseus Liebenberg has a hand in the development of the Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem.

In an interview with Nukta, Arshad had also praised his contribution in his growth. He had admitted that he had learnt new things from him which helped him in engineering a record throw in the last year’s Paris Olympics.

Although Terseus has retired from the North West University of South Africa as an athletics head but he definitely will continue to impart training to the budding lot from around the world at any other place.

Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) is pursuing him in order to get his assistance in the development of its next generation of javelin throwers.

“Yes, we are in constant contact with Terseus and we will not let him go. A few days ago, I had talked to him and he has told me that he will let us know about his availability in the next few days,” a senior official of AFP told Nukta.

“He is a fine coach. He has a massive contribution in Pakistan’s javelin throw development. He also trained Arshad Nadeem who is now a mature athlete and he can get training from Terseus anytime when he will need it,” the official said.

“But we also want him to train Yasir Sultan and emerging Mohammad Shehzad and we will send them when we will know about his (Terseus) availability,” the official said.

Yasir, also the Asian bronze medalist, is being trained by Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari at Lahore since long.

Shehzad is a new talent from Army. And, he, last year showed his guts in trials on the sideline of the National Athletics Championship in Multan. He managed a throw of 75m after Fayyaz gave him some tips on the sideline of the national event and it helped him to manage an impressive throw.

And the AFP has been impressed by the lad.

AFP has also taken the state into loop and has sought its support in the development of these athletes.

“Yes, we have sought the assistance of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and we hope the things will go in the right direction,” the official said.

Meanwhile Arshad Nadeem has been undergoing training here at the Punjab Stadium under his coach Salman Butt.

As events are now a bit far away, he is doing his routine training.

“Yes, he is training well,” his coach Salman Butt told Nukta.

“It’s a routine training but he is progressing well and is in shape. But it’s not that tough as events are too far away,” Butt said.

Arshad’s main target this year is the World Championship which will be held in Tokyo from September 13-21.

He is favorite for the gold keeping in view his stupendous throw of 92.97m in Olympics.

Before the global event Arshad will also feature in the Asian Championship in Gumi, South Korea, from May 27-31.

Before that Diamond League will also begin and it depends on Arshad how he will prepare himself. But his coach Salman Butt said that he may feature in the Diamond League but the final decision will be made close to the competition.

The Diamond League is a series of competition and it is expected that Arshad will choose from different series.

The first one will be held at Xiamen, China, from April 26, 2025.

Arshad said that he is training and feels fine.

“Yes, its fine,” Arshad told Nukta.

Arshad is the sole athlete in Pakistan’s Olympics sports and if he remains fit then he can win several major medals for the country in the next few years.

Besides Olympics gold Arshad also has to his credit golds in the Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games and silver in the World Championship held in Hungary in 2023.