Javelin thrower Yasir to make last-ditch effort to qualify for World Athletics Championship

Pakistan’s No2 javelin thrower Mohammad Yasir Sultan is desperately eager to feature in the next month’s Asian Throwing Championship in Korea.

The athlete wants to make a last-ditch effort to qualify for the World Championship to be held in Tokyo in September.

This correspondent has learnt that Yasir has already requested the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) to ensure his entry in the event which will be the final opportunity for Yasir to make an effort for global event qualification.

When this correspondent approached Yasir’s coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari he also said that top effort will be made to field Yasir in the Mokpo event.

“Yes, we are eager to field him in the Asian Throwing Championship,” Bukhari told Nukta in an informal chat.

The Asian Throwing Championship will be held on August 21-22 in Mokpo.

Yasir will need to manage a throw of 85.50m if he is to qualify for the global event.

Yasir had got a vital opportunity to show his best recently in the Asian Championship in South Korea but he failed to impress and finished eighth with a throw of 75.39 meters.

Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem claimed gold in this event with an 86.40m throw, his first gold in the continental event.

Before going to South Korea Yasir’s coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari was confident that Yasir will pull off his best but he failed to impress.

Yasir a few days ago had told this correspondent in an informal chat at the Punjab Stadium that his body did not respond.

“I don’t know but my body did not respond. Actually, we could not get time for recovery as we had to play qualification round and final round on two successive days,” Yasir said.

It’s a big question mark that despite managing some big throws in training Yasir has so far been unable to pull off a major throw and this has also depressed the athlete.

Yasir’s best throw is 79.93m which had come in the 2023 Asian Championship in Bangkok which had also fetched bronze medal.

The same year in the Asian Throwing Championship in Mokpo Yasir had ended fourth with a throw of 72.64m,

In the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou Yasir was a sole Pakistani javelin thrower as Arshad Nadeem had withdrawn at the eleventh hour due to injury but he failed to finish at the victory podium and finished fourth with a throw of 78.13m.

Yasir has been training hard with his coach Fayyaz Bukhari at the Punjab Stadium Lahore and it would be seen whether AFP would be able to field him in the next month’s Mokpo event or not.

This correspondent tried to contact the AFP top officials but they did not respond.

Arshad Nadeem will be a big gold medal hope for Pakistan in the Tokyo World Championship. Being Olympics record holder, he is expected to topple reigning champion Neeraj Chopra of India in what could be a tough event.

Arshad smashed the Olympics record with a massive throw of 92.07metre in Paris Games last year to create ripples in the world athletics.

Arshad also aims to feature in three events before the World Championship in Japan’s capital in order to prepare well for the pressure competition.

In the 2023 World Championship in Budapest, Arshad had finished with a silver medal with a throw of 87.82m. Neeraj had claimed gold with an 88.17m throw.