Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) is going to hold trials on Sunday (today) at Punjab Stadium, Lahore, for picking a handful of athletes for the Asian Athletics Championships which will be held in Thailand next month.

Sources told me that the trials are being held because AFP is not sure about the results which emerged during the 34th National Games held in Quetta recently.

AFP was not involved in the National Games as it has already been put out of the Olympic family due to sanctions which have been imposed by the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on the federation after three of its athletes tested positive for using banned substances during the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in 2019. All three athletes whose four-year ban will expire later this year had claimed medals and they were then stripped of their medals.

The trials will be open and it will be interesting to see how the leading athletes perform to find slots for the continental event which will also help the participants to prepare for the 19th Asian Games slated to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8.

It will be interesting to see how Pakistan No2 javelin thrower Mohammad Yasir Sultan delivers in the trials.

Yasir produced his personal best throw of 77.50m in the Quetta National Games to claim silver for WAPDA. He fell just behind the Olympian Arshad Nadeem who managed 78.02m to pick gold. Arshad, who won back-to-back gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games last year, was not fully fit. Arshad, whose personal best is 90.18m, had undergone knee and elbow surgery in London last year and still he is not completely recovered and needs further training to get into his proper rhythm.

I think it will take some time and he definitely entered the National Games without attempting big throws during training at the Punjab Stadium, Lahore.

Although an AFP official told me that Arshad is fit and will feature in the Asian Championships and the subsequent World Championships to be held in Hungary in August I don’t think Arshad is in that perfect position. Although he told me after the National Games gold that he played with a plan, his body language showed that he had a problem. A source close to him had told me on the day Arshad won the National Games gold that the Olympian was feeling pain in his right leg.

The claim was something strange as he had had an operation on his left knee and right elbow. And if he has developed any pain in his right leg also then it will be trickier. I tried to ask Arshad about his fitness but he never told me anything solid. He always said that it would be seen when he would compete. And his stats in the National Games show that either he is not fully fit or he needs better training.

Let’s see what AFP does. If Arshad is not fit then he should not be sent to the Asian Championships as he is a vital player and unnecessary risk should not be taken by the AFP. Arshad is also now a mature athlete and he also should take his decisions and if he is not fit hundred percent then he should not go to Thailand.

Whether Arshad features in the Asian Championships or not at least AFP should give chance to Yasir who is doing hard training at the Punjab Stadium Lahore under coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari who had also trained Arshad for eight successive years and guided him eventually to become Olympian.

Bukhari is a fine coach and I have seen him working on Yasir now and Arshad in the past. He is a dedicated coach and credit must be given to him for taking Pakistan’s athletics to new heights following Arshad’s fifth-place finish in the Tokyo Olympics.

AFP can field even two javelin throwers in the Asian Championships and even in Asian Games. If Yasir has shown his guts and has put himself very close to becoming a force in the international circuit then AFP should also focus on him.

If there is a strong back-up for Arshad then it will force him to focus on his game and fitness. Arshad is highly talented but he seems to have been dragged into politics and his statement to a television channel during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games was something alarming. It means that he is being forced to get involved in politics which is not a right thing. He should be left to focus only on his game.

India always fields minimum two javelin throwers in major events and Pakistan also should do this as it has now Yasir also in the fold who has given his best in the National Games after remaining in the bracket of around 75m during the last three years.

Being a highly educated boy, having a Master’s degree in Physical Education from Punjab University Yasir picks things quickly. Initially he lacked focus but now he has started his training with a proper plan and I think if he removes his flaws and improves his skills then certainly he will also impress in the international circuit like Arshad did. The AFP should facilitate him. Again credit goes to coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari who is working selflessly on Yasir. Both Yasir and his coach Fayyaz belong to WAPDA.

Sprinter Shajar Abbas is the other highly talented athlete who can impress in the Asian Championship. He holds national records in both the 100m and 200m. Although he did not feature in the National Games because of certain rules as he has not completed 365 days of job with WAPDA, he is no doubt a super sprinter and can develop further.

AFP has some fine stuff but it should work in a professional way to develop athletes. It should keep top athletes out of politics. Players are innocent and they should be handled properly. Athletes should also know how to deal with the media. They should respect the media as it is because this means that people know about their exploits in the international circuit.

Hope the things go well.

73.alam@gmail.com