Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem will be in action for the first time after the Asian Championship as he will be vying for his spot in the final of the World Athletics Championship javelin throw event in Tokyo.
Arshad is coming into the competition on the back of an injury that had led to his calf surgery in England.
The injury prevented him from participating in the Diamond League meets in Switzerland and Poland, but he resumed training by August in preparation for the World Athletics Championships.
His only event after winning the historic gold medal at the Paris Olympics was the Asian Athletics Championships in Korea, where he posted his best throw of the season, 86.40, in Gumi.
On Wednesday, at the qualification round, even if he reaches the same mark as his throw in the Asian Championships, he would book his spot in the final.
"Arshad is in the calibre of people who can throw at 90 metres any time, so my very confident guess is that he will be qualifying within the first two throws in the qualification round," Arshad's former coach, Fiaz Bokhari, who was also present at the Olympic champion's last training session in Lahore on September, told The Express Tribune.
"Arshad's chances of winning the medal are as good as any other top athlete in the competition, and it will be a close competition by every standard. Arshad was looking like he was in good shape; he was agile and running well, and he could easily meet the qualification target of 84.50m."
The 28-year-old is slotted in Group B of the men's event, much like the last time at the World Championships in Budapest 2023.
Arshad had always sought to break the world record 98.48 meters (323 ft 1 in), which was set by Czech athlete Jan Železný on May 25, 1996, even before he aimed at the Olympic record that he set in Paris with 92.97m.
His group competition will take place at 4:45 pm Pakistan Standard Time on Wednesday.
The athlete from Mian Chunnu, Khanewal, bagged a silver medal at the last edition of the championships in 2023, and at that time, too, he was fighting through the pain of elbow and knee injuries, delaying the surgeries to assure a medal finish.
He will likely meet the defending champion Neeraj Chopra and last time's bronze medallist, the Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch, in the final, and the other two are competing in Group A of the qualification.
Neeraj and Arshad had enjoyed a very friendly bond before the two countries went to war in May, and since then, the two have refrained from expressing any solidarity with one another.
Neeraj came under fire as he had intended to invite Arshad to the inaugural athletics event that was named after him.
In the last media talk, Arshad steered clear of mentioning Neeraj and simply iterated his classic reply: "I compete against myself only."
Bokhari, who mentored him and trained him till the Tokyo Olympics 2021, felt that Arshad's impact has been huge, and it is high time that Pakistan starts understanding the market for javelin throw and invests in more youngsters, as Pakistan can easily produce five to 10 more world-class throwers.
Bokhari's aim is a lot like the one that the Indian side has been fulfilling; this time, they have four throwers, compared to two from the last edition.
How the javelin throw qualification takes place
There are 19 competitors in Group A, including heavyweights like Neeraj, Julian Weber, and Vadlejch, whereas Group B has 18 throwers, including Arshad, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist Anderson Peters, the seasoned Julius Yego, and Brazil's Luiz Mauricio Da Silva, among others.
The automatic qualifying mark is 84.50 (Q), or at least the best 12 qualify for the final.
In the qualification round, each thrower will get a chance of three attempts.
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