Arshad eyes smart preparation in South Africa

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Pakistan’s key javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem and his teammate Mohammad Yasir have reached South Africa for undergoing training under the South African coach.

The duo will stay there for four months initially.

“We went to the academy yesterday and it was a nice set up and I hope it will be a fine training stint,” Arshad told this correspondent from South Africa.

Arshad is the key for Pakistan’s training as he will feature in the World Championship to be held in Oregan, US, in July. And hardly four days after this event he will go straight away to Birmingham to feature in the Commonwealth Games to be held from July 28 to August 8.

He then immediately will move to Turkey to take part in the Islamic Games and then in September a big event in the shape of Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China.

Arshad, who finished fifth in the last year’s Tokyo Olympics, is expected to snare medals in the forthcoming major events.

Having already snared bronze in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, Arshad stands with a good chance to add to his international achievements.

Besides having won bronze in the 2016 Asian Junior Championship in Vietnam, Arshad also had to his credit silver in the Islamic Games in Baku. He also is the only Pakistani athlete who qualified for the Olympics directly after managing a smart throw of 86.29metre in Nepal’s South Asian Games in 2019.