Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad has mixed feelings after Olympic postponement

22-year-old says he will only get more time to train after the Games have been moved to 2021

KARACHI: Pakistan's first javelin thrower to qualify for the Olympics, Arshad Nadeem, is back in Mian Channu, Khanewal with his two young children, and done with training for the 2020 Tokyo Games as he receives the news that the games have been postponed till next year amid COVID-19 pandemic.

The 22-year-old is the first Pakistani ever to qualify directly for the Olympics in track and field events as he hit the 86.29 metre mark at the South Asian Games last year, which was also the new record for the region by any javelin thrower.

His ultimate target has been to reach the 90 metre mark and even surpass that and to achieve that aim Arshad has been training at the Wapda facility with coach Faiz Bokhari. He returned home on Tuesday morning as he received the directives from the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) to stop in the midst of coronavirus outbreak.

"I'm home and it is good to be back with my children. My daughter couldn't even believe I am home after a month," the 2018 Asian Games bronze medallist told The Express Tribune. "This is a tough time for everyone everywhere and I have seen it before in China too, when we were training. At least I am here with my family, with my loved ones, but I was training for Olympics regardless, and the last month has been the best training of my life. As far as the gym and field practice is concerned, I have been improving progressively."

Before the South Asian Games too, Arshad created a new national record at the National Games with an 81.52 metres throw in Peshawar.

He managed to go past the standard entry mark for the Olympics and thus made history, however, performing at the Olympics, his life-long dream will have to wait.

Arshad is not an ordinary athlete who qualified for Olympics from Pakistan anymore, in fact he is a witness to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

He was in China in January when the Chinese authorities began the lockdown. He was in Nanjing, training at a facility with four other Pakistani athletes.

"I'm seeing this again now here in Pakistan. When I was in China in January, the situation was alarming and bad. I'm grateful we got to leave China before the travel restrictions took place. It was not a good place to be, I saw it coming, at least right now I'm in my own country, at home. The outbreak is a global issue and I'm just happy to be here," said Arshad.

Now with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) President Thomas Back and Japanese Prime Minister  Abe Shinzo  announcing at a press conference call on Tuesday that the Games will be postponed till next year, it is a news Arshad is taking with mixed feelings, but welcomes it nonetheless.

The Olympics were scheduled to start on July 24 this year.

"I'm sad for everyone who was going to be a part of the Olympic Games. But this is a wise decision. I had the feeling that they would postpone it. I was willing to stay alone in Lahore, at our Wapda facility, it was just my coach and I training there, it was empty, but I kept training. It has been the best month training-wise of my life, but I know Allah does things for the better. I can see this as a time to prepare even better. None of the athletes are relaxed internationally, everyone is scared. I was ready to be alone and train alone too for my country, if they had chosen to carry on with the Olympics, but I'm glad that we got some time off," explained Arshad.

The official statement by the IOC on the olympics.org website says, "In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community."

Pakistan's athletes who qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games include Arshad, shooters Muhammad Khalil Akhtar, Ghulam Mustafa Bashir and Gulfam Joseph along with equestrian Usman Khan.