In Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan athletes have an icon to follow

CHENNAI: All it took was one gigantic effort at the biggest sporting stage for Pakistan javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem to inspire the next generation. With his gold medal in the Paris Olympics, Nadeem made Pakistan believe again; he ended a painful 40-year wait for a yellow metal and became the first from the south Asian nation to bag gold in an individual sport at the quadrennial showpiece.

His 92.97-metre Olympic record throw has made young athletes say, "I want to become like Nadeem and make the country proud" and this is not an exaggeration. One of the upcoming athletes in javelin from Pakistan is Bilal Muhammad, who will compete in the Junior South Asian Athletics Championship (SAAC) in Chennai from Thursday.

"After Nadeem's gold-medal performance, I can only see people trying their hand at javelin. I have looked up to him and hope to get to the level where he is now. I have met him twice with the recent one being before his departure to Paris. He said that when he comes back, we will make a group (youngsters) and train together," Bilal told TOI.

"He (Nadeem) is the kind of person who does not take results to heart. If he loses, he tries to learn from the mistakes and then improves on it in the next competition. I can relate to it myself. I will try to work hard like him and the results will take care of themselves."

Bilal is one of many athletes to have been inspired by Nadeem's historic triumph and it is not just down to javelin throwers. High jumper Aiza Ahmed mentioned how the sporting scene in Pakistan has changed after Nadeem's performance.

"The number of people taking up javelin has gone up enormously. People who did not know the 'J' of javelin have now started training. I have seen many junior athletes going to coaches asking them to teach athletics," Aiza, who is the only female representative from Pakistan in the SAAC, said.

"Women are taking up athletics like men and the number is pretty much the same. I have high hopes," Aiza said.

Saif Ul Islam Afridi, the vice president of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP), stressed that the discipline has hugely benefited from Nadeem's efforts.

"The positive thing after Nadeem's gold medal is that many have started taking up javelin throw. There is great impact, and many have started focusing on athletics. I have seen many making reels and stories (social media) of them throwing a wooden stick," said Afridi, also the Pakistan team manager at the SAAC.


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