Arshad's Olympic feat inspiring fans in France

It has been more than two weeks since the iconic moment when Pakistan's javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem wore the Olympics gold medal in Paris at the ceremony held at Stade de France, but his win continues to have an impact beyond the realm of sports.

For the Pakistani community, he has become an inspiration and his feat has given hope to the French Pakistani community in the same way it has to everyone in Pakistan.

"I first saw Arshad Nadeem on social media and how brilliantly he throws the javelin, and since then I have followed him regularly," explained Hammad Anwar, who came from Pakistan to France for studies a year ago.

Abubakkar Yousafzai, a data analyst who came to France in 2018, said that Pakistan has been deprived of any good news coming from sports but Arshad's feat has changed that scenario.

"In France, we have more than 150,000 Pakistanis living here and all of us are very happy. This is such a good news for everyone, I am also here to get a chance to see the legend in person."

Pakistani men especially are getting a new role model to motivate them, so that is great," said Yousafzai.

On the other hand, Mirza Umar Asadullah, an advocate of the Supreme Court in Pakistan only travelled to see Arshad at the Olympics.

"I reached two days before Arshad performed at the qualifying round here. I got a very expensive ticket, it was so hard, it took me eight hours but I got it for 300 Euros," recalls Asadullah.

"I was so happy that I came here just for Arshad and he won," he said. "Sports is the only medium that can encourage youth, apart from cricket, we need more talent to be nurtured in other sports," said Asadullah.