Arshad to feature in three events ahead of World Athletics Championship

Salman Butt, coach of Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, has said that the world’s leading athlete will feature in three international meets before entering into the World Athletics Championship slated to be held in Tokyo in September.

“We plan to field him in three international meets before the World Championship,” Butt told Nukta on Tuesday.

“We are in negotiations relating to the plan. Mostly events are in Europe and we will also feature in the Diamond League in Poland in August.

“This is important ahead of the major event. It will help Arshad to get ready for the Tokyo event which matters the most.”

The World Championship is extremely important event for the Pakistani athlete. Being an Olympic champion and record holder, he will make frantic effort to penetrate and lift his first global event gold medal.

Arshad had finished with a silver medal in the 2023 World Championship held in Hungary with a throw of 87.82m. India’s Neeraj Chopra had managed a throw of 88.17m to win the gold.

Neeraj, who had finished second behind Arshad in the last year’s Paris Olympics, has been training under world’s former javelin guru and world record holder Jan Zelezny of Czech Republic.

Arshad recently claimed the gold medal in the Asian Championship in South Korea with a throw of 86.40m, his maiden gold in the continental event.

Arshad has time and again expressed his desire to break world record and it would be seen how the Mian Channu athlete will deliver in Tokyo in September.

Earlier, the World Championship was scheduled in August but it was delayed for a month keeping in view the hot weather in Japan’s capital in the month of August.

Arshad has returned to training camp following a few days of Eid break.

“Yes, we are training,” Butt said.

Arshad stunned the athletics world with a monstrous throw of 92.97m in Paris last year to not only win the Olympic gold but also set a new record of the world’s most prestigious event.

This was after long 40 years that Pakistan won gold in any sport in Olympics since the nation last fetched gold in the men’s hockey in the 1984 Los Angelis Olympics.

Forbes 30 under 30

Butt also spoke about Arshad’s inclusion in Forbes 30 Under30 Asia list for 2025.

“It’s a matter of an immense pride for us that Arshad has been included in the renowned Forbes’s annual list of 30 promising individuals,” Butt told this correspondent.

“As a teacher I am extremely happy with the development relating to my student’s inclusion in the list. Arshad’s landmark progression in the athletics world and his incessant struggle as an athlete has convinced Forbes to include his name in its list for 2025. Its inspiring.

“We have come to know about the news through media and we have not received any official word from the magazine.”

Arshad, who had lifted bronze in the 2016 South Asian Games in India, has labored hard to annex the Olympic title. The last four years have been highly productive for Arshad during which he managed some outstanding throws.

Arshad, who had qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 86.29m in the 2019 Nepal South Asian Games, finished fifth in the Tokyo Games, held a year later in 2021 due to covid issues, with a throw of 84.62m.

Since then, he never looked back and smashed few records at major levels.

He managed a record throw of 90.18m in Birmingham in 2022 to win gold in the Commonwealth Games. And hardly after a week he smashed another record by managing a throw of 88.55m to secure gold in the Islamic Games in Turkey.

And then came the record-breaking throw in Paris Olympics, a success which changed the entire life of Arshad Nadeem, making him one of the richest athletes in Pakistan’s sports history.