The last few days were very productive for Pakistan athletics. Our athletes did a wonderful job in the 2nd Imam Reza International Athletics Championship in Mashhad, Iran, by securing two golds, two silvers and one bronze medal. Rookie athlete from Punjab Shajar Abbas created a new national record in 200m with a timing of 20.91 seconds to snare gold for the country. Pakistan No. 2 javelin thrower Mohammad Yasir, who recently underwent training in South Africa, won Pakistan's second gold in the event with a throw of 74.83metre. Shehroz Khan, meanwhile, got silver in high jump with 2.05m while Lyari-born Abdul Moeed Baloch claimed silver in 400m by clocking 46.73seconds which is also a new national record. Moeed also clinched bronze in 200m with a timing of 21.41 seconds.

It's great news for Pakistan and now is the right time to work further on these athletes so that they could be properly developed so that they can achieve higher goals.

In the first edition of this event last time Pakistan's premier javelin thrower and Olympian Arshad Nadeem had also set a new national record with his personal best throw of 86.38m, a feat which he had achieved before featuring in the Tokyo Olympics.

Let's ask Pakistan's senior coach Fayyaz Hussain Bukhari and he will tell you what should be done to convert this talent into a world level product.

"First of all I will congratulate all those athletes who claimed medals in this event. This has shown that our land is very fertile and we have the raw stuff which needs our attention," Bukhari told 'The News on Sunday' in an interview.

"Almost all these athletes who won medals in Iran are very young. Shajar and Moeed were really impressive. Shehroz's attempt is also inspiring and he can also further develop. Yasir still has the capacity to make further six to seven metre improvement. So all have rooms to go up. The credit also goes to the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) who developed such a good lot. Now it's an opportune time for the top officials of the AFP to put their heads together and plan for grooming and developing this bunch with a professional approach. Olympic qualifiers are also ahead and the AFP should plan to work on this lot in a proper camp. It is very important to set goals for every athlete so that they could take a start towards achieving those goals. A few years ago I told javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem that we will have to qualify directly for the Tokyo Olympics by breaking the shackles of wild card entry and we achieved that milestone.

"Our Olympic feat has also instilled a sort of hope in the new generation and now athletes want to do something stunning for the country. Arshad is their role model. If you want to develop athletes you will have to set their goals for them and you prepare them accordingly. A coach can play a big role in all this exercise," Bukhari said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Arshad Nadeem came under the patronage of Bukhari when he was throwing around 55 metres and he took him to the Olympic level.

"The AFP should set up a proper camp for these athletes. Discus throwers can also be added to the camp as we also have some good records in this discipline. In one event, five to six athletes should be put with specialised coaches, physio and nutritionist. And if we hold such camps for three to six months then I am hopeful the same product and its back-up force will be prepared for major international assignments. But it's a matter of start. The more we will take an early start the more we will achieve goals. But I will tell you again that goals for every athlete should be set so that they can start their journey towards achieving those goals," he said.

"In athletes' development the coach plays a sheet anchor role and the relationship between an athlete and coach is very important. If an athlete hides something from the coach it will not work. So we should understand these things. We should equip our coaches with modern education and they should be sent abroad for various clinics and training programmes so that they could enhance their knowledge and properly train their athletes," he added.

"One important thing which I want to mention here is that the athletes, who won medals in Iran, need to repeat such timings.

"The AFP also needs to establish a National Academy so that the available talent could be trained systematically and under scientific pattern. The said academy should have state support and should be equipped properly so that we could work on our budding talent with the sort of maturity which is needed if you convert your top seeds into Asian level or world level products and produce Olympians. I will repeat that the market is brimming with athletic talent but the issue is how to hunt it and then groom it properly," Bukhari said.

It's high time for the AFP to work more rigorously and develop its top talent. AFP recently did a fine job by sending both Arshad and Yasir to South Africa for training. But now it will have to also focus on sprinters like Moeed and Shajar whose time in Iran has shown that the duo can go a long way and could become top level athletes in years to come.

73.alam@gmail.com