Finally the country’s premier javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem returned to competitive events after a gap of one year. He competed in the Diamond League in Paris on July 7 and although he finished fourth with a throw of 84.21 metre I think it’s a good sign that at least after being dogged by injuries for so long he at least showed his fitness. This throw is in 85 metre bloc and it indicates that he will be a real danger for the world’s top athletes if he is able to spend the coming few weeks in quality training. So a big hope is there and those who know javelin say that he is on the right track and can manage a big throw if he is handled well on the competition day in the Olympics.

We hope he will deliver at the biggest stage which he is familiar with as he was part of Pakistan’s contingent in the previous Olympics in Tokyo where he finished fifth and earned a lot of popularity across the globe.

I have learnt that in the Diamond League Arshad did not know that he would not be allowed to try his sixth throw. Actually it was a new format and the event was conducted under a final-three format which means that those who are ranked top three at the end of the fifth round will be given their sixth throws. This is limited to the Diamond League but the officials concerned should have had knowledge of it.

It was his first experience playing in the Diamond League. It’s a series of events and in every phase athletes are awarded points for their performances.

Arshad these days is undergoing training at the Punjab Stadium Lahore under his coach Salman Butt who is satisfied with his performance in Diamond League. He will be doing around five techniques before moving to Paris on July 24 for the Olympics.

He will also attend the opening ceremony which will be held on July 26 in Paris.

The country’s senior wrestler Mohammad Inam has suggested that the authorities will need to make his meet day easy for him in the Olympics.

According to him if he is kept relaxed it will be of great help. He also suggested that there should be a psychiatrist with him so that he could be mentally prepared for the given day. Inam also told me in an interview that Arshad should not have his cell phone when he enters the Olympic Village. That way, he would live in peace and there would be no external pressure on him and he would solely focus on his training, diet and sleep. Inam even said that officials accompanying Pakistan’s contingent and even those at home also should not disturb him during those days.

During the Tokyo Olympics he was kept engaged in unnecessary things which put unnecessary pressure on him. After doing well in the preliminaries he failed to deliver in the finals. He could not handle pressure well.

Companies have started approaching Arshad but I would suggest that officials and Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) should manage these things and Arshad should be kept away from it as it will deviate his attention from training and his focus will be disturbed. So the next few days are very important for Arshad and if he trains well then I hope he can win a medal in Paris.

In sports, focus is very important. If an athlete is focussed and enjoys his duty he can deliver but if he takes unnecessary pressure then things go in the wrong direction.

Companies have started approaching Arshad but I would suggest that officials and Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) should manage these things and Arshad should be kept away from it as it will deviate his attention from training and his focus will be disturbed.

So the next few days are very important for Arshad and if he trains well then I hope he can win a medal in Paris.

But one thing which I would like to mention here is that we don’t care for even such great athletes like Arshad.

If he gets a medal in the Olympics everyone will come up to take credit. The issue is that he spent 26 hours on the way to Paris for the Diamond League and after 48 hours he had to feature in the meet in which the two-time world champion Anderson Peters and an Olympic champion were also participating.

He then had to return home and it wasted his time and he will now again move to Paris on July 24.

India’s entire athletics contingent is in Europe. They will stay in three countries of Europe before the Olympics to train well and acclimatise with the local conditions before moving to Paris. This is a big plus for the Indian crew, also carrying the world and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.

We should have managed a long stay for Arshad in Paris or in any other country close to France.

The issue is that Arshad has been training at Lahore in excessive heat mostly and even recently just before leaving for Finland to feature in the Paavo Nurmi Games he developed a calf muscle strain and the authorities had to drop him.

Had he been trained for the last couple of months in Europe it would have given him a great edge as he would have been around France or in France and would be in an ideal position to click in that environment.

He was sent to South Africa for five weeks and I wonder who took this decision. If you have sent him to South Africa so he should have stayed there until the Olympics as there he could have availed himself of very good facilities under his coach Terseus.

We don’t know how to plan for such a good athlete. Despite all such issues we still hope Arshad will win a medal for Pakistan in the Paris Games.

Pakistan last won a medal in the Olympics in 1992 in Barcelona when our hockey team snared bronze. In individual sports we last won a medal in 1988 Seoul Olympics when boxer Hussain Shah took bronze.

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