Arshad's road to recovery begins but participation in upcoming events uncertain

Renowned England-based orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ali Sher Bajwa has been instrumental in the treatment and care of Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem over the past few years.

As part of his support team, Dr. Bajwa has accompanied Arshad on several major tours, playing a pivotal role in his progress. Notably, Dr. Bajwa's treatment before the Paris Olympics enabled Arshad's successful recovery, culminating in a record-breaking gold medal.

With the World Athletics Championships just two months away, Arshad has faced another setback due to injury. Under Dr. Bajwa's expert supervision, Arshad recently underwent calf muscle surgery in Cambridge and has begun his rehabilitation journey

“Arshad did sustain a new and acute injury during a planned throwing training session. It involved a lower limb. He has undergone surgery under my care in Cambridge on 15th July,” Bajwa told Nukta.

'Smooth recovery'

“I am quite pleased with the result that we got and hopeful of a smooth recovery process. It’s a long haul,” he said.

“As you know, injury recovery is multi factorial especially in elite athletes. He has started his rehab and I will be monitoring and upgrading his rehab program in a stepwise fashion. It will be milestone-based and not time-based which means if we can safely reach the next stage efficiently, we will do so,” he said.

“Thing that goes in Arshad’s favor is that he recovered well from his previous surgery in Cambridge and went on to create Olympic record later that year. However, each injury has unique challenges. He will be assessed on a day-to-day basis and aim for weekly milestones. It’s an approach that my team has used for Arshad and host of other Olympians safely in the past. We trust this approach but of course there is always some elements of uncertainty during this process,” Bajwa said.

“I shall thus request the folk to support Arshad by giving him positive messages and avoid undue pressure to return to performance. The aim is to get him to performance fitness efficiently,” Bajwa concluded.

After winning the Olympic gold last year with a monster throw of 92.97 meters, which is also the Olympics record, Arshad passed through lengthy layoff before he returned to international circuit in the Asian Athletics Championship in May in Korea where he won gold with a throw of 86.40 meters.

Arshad now eyes gold in the World Championship which will be held in Tokyo from September 13-21. Before that he aims to feature in the Diamond League in Poland on August 16 depending on his proper recovery.

Nukta understands that following superb performance in the Olympics, Arshad has been handled exclusively by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and his coach Salman Butt. Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) only sends his entry for international events.

Arshad would need quality handling as he is a great asset of the nation. If he is smartly handled, he can bring more major titles for the country. Arshad’s gold in Olympics was Pakistan’s first gold in 40 years since national hockey team secured gold in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Arshad also has to his credit record golds in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games in Turkey.

He also won silver in the 2023 World Championship with a throw of 87.82 meters, just lagged behind his Indian rival Neeraj Chopra who managed a throw of 88.17 meters to win gold.