Arshad all set for Diamond League

The World Athletics Championship silver-medallist will take on nine other competitors at the elite event in Paris

KARACHI:

"It is going to be my first Diamond League, I've never competed in this before," Pakistan's main medal hope for the Paris Olympics javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem admitted humbly.

Arshad will become the first Pakistani athlete to compete at the Diamond League which is no mean feat, come Sunday at the Meeting de Paris.

It is amazing, though, that Pakistan's most brilliant athlete who put the country on the world map in athletics, has never competed in even one of the Diamond League annual series. The grand event is the elite athletic invitational meet held every season in different countries.

The Diamond League this year is in its 15th edition, but it is also the first time that it will see a Pakistani in action.

It is an honour that has been beyond imagination for the longest time for the athletes from the country, but the Mian Chunnu boy with a big dream will break another ceiling at the international level.

Arshad is taking this event as a test for himself as he is coming back after almost a year since his incredible feat at the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, where he not only became the first Pakistani to win a silver medal at the event but also booked himself a direct ticket to Paris Olympics with a throw of 87.82 metres.

This event is a starter while his main focus remains the Paris Games.

"The Paris event will be a test really, I've just recovered from an injury you see," Arshad told this correspondent.

The 27-year-old had gone through a laser procedure in England to recover from his earlier injury in the right knee in December just months away from the Olympics.

He began training in February with his coach.

The damage to his knee was bad enough for him to withdraw from the Asian Games as he had already achieved his target of directly qualifying for the Olympics, that too for the second time. "This time I picked up an injury right below my right knee, on my calf, it was a muscle strain just three-four days before Eidul Azha. So that became a bit of a concern because my aim is the Olympics, and hopefully a medal in it too.

"So I had to change the plans because of that injury, which occurred due to the hot weather we have and lots of sweating and sometimes dehydration too, so lots of things to be careful of.

"I wanted to compete at an event in Finland before coming to Paris. But we had to skip that due to my recovery, while the way to Paris has been quite long due to travelling between countries."

Arshad received a multiple entry visa for the Schengen region, and his main country happened to be the Netherlands from where he was to travel to Finland first, and then to Paris, and even by dropping Finland from the schedule, the travel time from Lahore to Paris had been exhausting.

"I am adjusting here in Paris now, the weather is far better than what we had back home, so I am enjoying training in that," the Tokyo Olympics finalist explained.

He trained mainly in Lahore with his coach Salman Butt using local facilities to prepare for his international comeback.

Eyes on the prize at the
Paris meet

"I am in full control now, and the recovery from the muscle strain injury has been well so far," said Arshad who arrived for the event between Thursday and Friday.

"Here at the Diamond League meet I'll definitely try to do my best and see what happens. My target is the Olympics of course but I want to give my best and make sure I am being careful too because I am coming at the back of an injury and somewhere in one's mind that stays, the fact that the injury was there. It lingers in my mind too.

"If there were no Olympics and just the meet, then I would've probably strategised things differently but for now the aim is to test the waters. See where I am standing. So far I am all good, my technique is good.

"The meet will have 10 top competitors and we'll each get six attempts so I'll see how I'm feeling, there are one, two, three, attempts and further, so there is enough space to test." Arshad always believes that he competes with himself first and others second.

"I compete with myself, I focus on my performance during the competition, but still one thinks about others. I think at the Paris meet my main competitors will be Germany's Julian Weber and Czech thrower Jakub Vadlejch," said Arshad.

In his message to the athletics fans and Paksitani, he reiterated the need for support and prayers.

"I just want to request for support and prayers. Please keep me in your prayers for the Paris Olympics too because that is my ultimate dream to fulfil.