It seems that everything is going against Pakistan in the field of sports these days.

The country fared badly in the Asian Games in China recently, winning just one silver and two bronze medals.

The country’s No2 javelin thrower Mohammad Yasir Sultan flopped in the Asian Throwing Championship in South Korea last week as he just managed 72.64metre throw to finish fourth in the event in which low-profile throwers of the continent featured.

It was one of the worst throws from Yasir whose best is 79.93 metre. Had he managed a throw around his personal best he could have won gold. The Korean who got bronze managed a throw of 72.67m which shows that Yasir just missed a bronze. But a medal is not our greatest concern. The actual thing is to analyse why Yasir failed to deliver. When he was going to Korea he had managed a throw of 78m plus in training.

His coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari did not accompany him and that was the biggest negative. In future, the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) should send with him his coach which will produce good results. A coach knows how to motivate his athlete when his feelings get down. Fayyaz has been imparting training to him for the last one year and he knows exactly how to get the best out of him.

Even Yasir told me after his below-par performance in Korea that his body had no power and it did not respond. He said that had his coach Fayyaz been with him the result could have been different.

It means that we missed a medal. Although Yasir had elbow issues before going to Korea it was not that perturbing a fact as he did not feel any such pain and was in fine spirits. But he told me that he did not do his technique work in Korea as he did not get time following a 14 hours long journey.

But such poor performances sometimes happen as we have seen two-time world champion Anderson Peters who flopped on several occasions in recent months.

Although Yasir flopped in Korea where gold and silver came inside 76m and 75m. And both were Japanese who grabbed the top two medals in the event which was skipped by the cream lot of the continent. There were no Indian athletes.

Yasir’s main aim is to qualify for the Paris Olympics and he still has the chance.

He will need to achieve the 85.50m throw in any official event until June 30, 2024, a timeline set by the World Athletics.

The AFP should focus on this athlete as he can manage a qualification but the federation should note that it will need to send with him his coach Fayyaz Bukhari on every trip. I also interacted with Bukhari in Lahore the other day and he said that he has decided to guide Yasir to the Olympics.

He said that Yasir can manage 85m plus throws anytime.

The country’s premier javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem has already qualified for the Paris Olympics with a throw of 87.82metre which he managed in the World Championship in Budapest early this summer.

As in other events of athletics Pakistan has no chance. I think we should focus only on javelin. We have a few more javelin throwers who can make it to the mainstream international competition any time.

There is a thrower from the Army who can break through. Fayyaz Bukhari’s son Hussain is working hard and he could be a future star also. Arshad Nadeem’s brother Aleem is also working hard and has already achieved a throw of 60m plus. The AFP should also support these javelin throwers in order to ensure a bright future in the discipline.

Keeping in view the scope of javelin throw in Pakistan AFP also can go for hosting Asian Throwing Championship in Pakistan. The AFP chief Major General (retd) Mohammad Akram Sahi is also the vice-president of the Asian athletics Association (AAA) and can host the event. The AFP should convince the state to lay a top quality track at Islamabad or Lahore so that major events could be arranged in Pakistan.

Moreover, countrywide open trials can also work and I believe that we can get a sufficient number of javelin throwers who will be used for future national duty.

The trials should be supervised by Arshad Nadeem and Mohammad Yasir as it will further put attraction in the event and even sponsors will also jump to support the cause.

Let’s work on the lone event where we have made our name in the world through Arshad Nadeem.

73.alam@gmail.com