The year 2021 was a good one for Pakistan's sports. And the basic reason behind this was a stunning finish from our javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem and weightlifter Talha Talib in the Tokyo Olympics. Both the players finished fifth in their respective events and attracted the attention of Pakistan's cricket-mad fans.When Arshad was playing his finals, the whole nation was behind him. Both the boys were hugely appreciated by both the government and the corporate sector. However, unfortunately we are yet to give both of them quality training opportunities to prepare them for future major events.

Arshad managed a throw of 84.62 metre. Arshad managed 82.40m, X and 84.62m in the first three rounds which helped him surge to the fourth place and thus he was able to make a place in the final eight. But Arshad unexpectedly failed in the final phase as he managed only throws of 82.91m, 81.98m before making a foul in his last attempt.

India's Neeraj Chopra created history with the first ever athletics medal in the 100-year Olympics history when he finished with a gold with a throw of 87.58 metre.

Pakistan's premier weightlifter Talha Talib pulled off his career-best effort in both snatch and clean and jerk to finish overall fifth in Tokyo. Talha lifted 150kg in snatch and 170kg in clean and jerk and finished with a total of 320kg. He finished two kilograms behind the bronze medallist Zaani Mirko of Italy who finished with a total of 322kg, 145kg snatch and 174kg clean and jerk. Talha lifted 144, 147 and 150. His clean and jerk efforts were 166 (mis-lift), 166 and 170.

Pakistan's three shooters Ghulam Mustafa Bashir (tenth place), Khalil Akhtar (15th place) and Gulfam Joseph (9th place) did well in their respective events and it was the best ever performance from national shooters in their Olympics' history since 1952.

Judoka Shah Hussain once again had a poor Olympics as he exited in the first round. Swimmers Haseeb Tariq and Bismah Khan also failed to impress. Bismah, younger sister of Olympian Kiran Khan, improved her personal best timing when she clocked 27.78 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle competition.

Pakistan's top female shuttler Mahoor Shahzad was shown the exit door when she lost her second straight fixture to Great Britain's Kirsty Gilmour, the World No 26, 21-14, 21-14. This was the second straight loss for Mahoor in her Group L competitions of the Tokyo Olympics badminton women's singles. She lost her first show against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21-3, 21-8. Despite the exit, Mahoor created history as she became the first shuttler of Pakistan to feature in Olympics.

Both Talha Talib and Mahoor took part in the Tokyo Games on the IOC Tripartite Commission Invitation Places.

A big unfortunate moment for Pakistan in 2021 was when Australia-based equestrian Usman Khan was critically injured and his horse Kasheer died in an accident at the FEI Naracoorte Horse Trials CIC-4* Olympic Games Qualifiers in Australia in May. Usman had qualified for Tokyo Games but his horse Azad Kashmir died and he had to revise the qualifiers.

It was also a great year for the world beach wrestling king Mohammad Inam Butt as he won not only two gold medals in the World Beach Wrestling Series in Europe but also snared a bronze in the Asian Qualifying round for Olympics in Almaty. He has now set his eyes on the major events in 2022.

Pakistan's Zaman Anwar won bronze in World Beach Wrestling series which showed that the country has a huge wrestling talent which needs to be properly polished by the authorities.

Weightlifter Talha Talib snared bronze in snatch in the World Championship in Tashkent recently - the first medal for Pakistan at this level - when he lifted 143kg.

Pakistan's top karateka Saadi Abbas narrowly missed the global medal when he fell in the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Dubai in November. In December he finished fifth in the Asian Championship in Almaty. Pakistan's promising judoka Qaiser Afridi got bronze in the Asia-Oceania Judo Championship in Beirut recently.

Pakistan's cueists took part only in the twin snooker events held in Doha, Qatar, during 2021. In the 26th Asian Men Snooker Championship, held from September 12 to 16, Haris Tahir reached semi-finals (bronze medal) while in the IBSF 6-Red World Cup, held from September 17 to 21, Babar Masih reached the final (silver medal).

Pakistan senior volleyball team finished seventh in the Asian Championship in Japan in September. The team did well in the initial round but faltered when it mattered the most. The team needs big exposure as without that it is not easy to bring the brigade on the victory podium at major stages. Pakistan also needs a professional league which it should start in 2022.

Pakistan's premier professional boxer Mohammad Waseem regained his WBC world silver flyweight title when he defeated Rober Barrera of Colombia in Dubai in November. This was the third time that Waseem secured this title. This was also the final eliminator of the WBA world title shot and he is now eligible to go for WBC and WBA unification world crown.

The year also organisers to cancel and postpone various events across the globe due to covid-19 issues.

The year 2021 also remained tense for the sports fraternity at home due to strained relations between the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and Pakistan Sports Board and IPC Ministry. The relationship is still strained which is hurting the sports. The new sports policy enactment may further damage the relations. We have major events ahead in 2022 and we don't see any preparation for those. It is high time both the bodies resolved their issues and focused on Pakistan's athletes' preparation and development.

In the year 2021 Pakistan football also made headlines for negative reasons. No progress was made on the election front. Yes, a few days ago a hope was created as both the IPC Ministry and Normalisation Committee entered an agreement under which NC will be handed over the PFF headquarters and so work for holding the PFF elections will start.

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