All eyes on Arshad, Yasir as Pakistani javelin throwers look to make their mark at Asian Athletics

The spotlight is now on Pakistan's top javelin throwers, Arshad Nadeem, the Olympic gold medalist, and Mohammad Yasir Sultan, the Asian bronze medalist. The duo is set to begin their medal quest at the Asian Athletics Championship in South Korea, starting with the qualifying round tomorrow.

Both Arshad and Yasir are in separate groups. It is expected that both will need just one throw to qualify for the Saturday’s final.

Arshad is the top seed and is set to win gold while Yasir, who had lifted bronze in the Asian Championship in 2023 in Bangkok, is also expected to spring surprise in the continental event which is also a qualifying round for the World Championship to be held in Tokyo in September.

Both javelin throwers underwent a few days training in Gumi under their coaches.

Salman Butt is handling Arshad while Fayyaz Husain Bukhari is the coach of Yasir.

This will be after ten months that Arshad will be seen in action since he lifted historic gold in the last year’s Paris Olympics by managing a monstrous throw of 92.97 meters.

Arshad was in fine spirits when he was leaving for Korea a few days ago along with his coach Salman Butt.

He underwent a few weeks workout in Lahore and was seen in fine shape. As India’s Neeraj Chopra is not competing in Korea’s event it would be a cakewalk for Arshad to win his first Asian Championship gold.

Arshad (92.97m) is in Group A which carries Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka (85.45m), Yash Vir Singh of India (82.13m), Chao Tsun Cheng of Chinese Taipei (91.36m), Artus Gafner of Kazakhstan (74.69m), Taepoong Nam of Korea (75.96m), Sarvar Ismoilov of Uzbekistan (70. 62m), Junsuk Jung of Korea (73.11m), Abdulrahman Alazemi of Kuwait (71.84m), Weng Chon Ma of Macao (61.09m) and Ryohei Arai of Japan (86.83m).

Meanwhile Group B features Sumedha Jagath of Sri Lanka (85.78m), Sachin Yadav of India (84.39m), Yuta Sakiyama of Japan (83.54m), Mohammad Yasir Sultan of Pakistan (79.93m), Hu Haoran of China (82.14m), Iran’s Ali Fathi Ganji (77.11m), Ali Essa Abdulghani of Saudi Arabia (75.10m), Dani Kim of Korea (75.28m), Abd Hafiz of Indonesia (71.03m), Asadbek Murotov of Uzbekistan (70.26m) and Abdulaziz Alhemdan of Kuwait (61.88m).

Pakistan’s other athletes falter

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s female sprinter Tameen Khan clocked 12.14 seconds in 100m to finish 17th in heats which carried 22 athletes who competed.

Shajar Abbas also failed to progress beyond the semi-finals in the 400m competition.

Shajar, who previously used to represent Pakistan in 100m and 200m, qualified for the semi-finals when he clocked 47.17 in his heat. However, he failed to do well in the semi-finals when he recorded 47.38 seconds to finish seventh in his heat, featuring eight athletes.

Abdul Mueed also failed to impress. He clocked just 50.10 seconds in 400m and was eliminated at the first hurdle.