Pakistan’s top athlete Arshad Nadeem will compete in the men’s javelin throw final at the Alexander Stadium today hoping to earn his first Commonwealth Games medal (Sunday). It will start at 11:40 p.m. (Pakistan time).
Neeraj Chopra, the silver medalist from the most recent World Championship and the gold medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, has chosen to skip the quadrennial competition owing to a groyne ailment, giving Arshad the best opportunity to place third in Birmingham.
Arshad followed up his fifth-place finish in the Tokyo Olympics from the previous year by placing fifth with an 86.16-metre throw in the most recent World Championship hosted in the US.
This was also his third personal best throw; his previous two best throws were 86.38 metres in Iran and 86.29 metres in the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal. Anderson Peters, a two-time world champion, is present in Birmingham and in excellent condition. He just made a fierce defence of his world championship in the US with a magnificent throw of 90.54 metres.
It will be interesting to observe how Trinidad and Tobago’s gold medallist from the 2012 London Olympics, Keshorn Walcott, performs. He fell short, though, in the US World Championship. Despite only managing a throw of 78.87 metres, he was unable to advance to the finals. Despite this, he might be tricky due to his extensive experience.
Kishorn has two medals to his name: a bronze from the 2016 Olympics in Rio and a silver from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. In Birmingham, it will be intriguing to watch how the trio performs. In the quadrennial competition, Arshad is certain to provide his best performance. Yes, InshaAllah, I’ll try my hardest, Arshad assured the journalists.
I’m in excellent form. Yes, I have an elbow injury and am still playing. It bothered me in the US as well because I was in discomfort during the World Championship, but I’m handling it well.Dr. Ali Bajwa was with me in the US and gave me excellent care. He will most likely be with me here as well because, from what I understand, his services have been engaged for a few days,” he stated. When asked if he would compete against Peters, the finest in the world, Arshad replied that he would do his best. I’m not in it to win against anyone. I challenge myself. I’ll make an effort to give it my all.
The training, according to him, had been fair in Birmingham. Yes, a few productive sessions took place here because of the location’s excellent weather, according to Arshad.
He played without a coach in the US as well, and he will do the same here. Due to health issues, Terseus Liebenberg, Arshad’s South African instructor who had coached him in Johannesburg, was unable to travel to the US. Arshad stated, “There is no coach with me.”