Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem will be kicking off the World Athletics Championships campaign in Tokyo today (Wednesday).
The Olympic champion will be competing in the qualification round, where he is placed in Group A. The final round is set for September 18.
The event is scheduled to start at 4:45 pm Pakistan Standard Time.
Arshad, who underwent surgery in July this year due to a calf injury and had to skip the Diamond League competitions. He has now regained full fitness and cleared to return to action.
As per Pakistan Athletics Federation, Arshad has shown strong performance during training sessions and his coaches are confident he can deliver top results at the global event.
He will be up again defending champion Neeraj Chopra and Germany’s renowned javelin thrower Julian Weber.
Meanwhile, Chopra, 27, would be aiming to become only the third male javelin thrower in history to defend the World Championships gold he had won in Budapest 2023.
Chopra is set to face Nadeem for the first time after the 2024 Paris Olympics, giving him a chance to avenge his second-place finish in the French capital.
Sports News- ARY News
The qualifying round will determine the eight best javelin throwers who will advance to the final on Thursday.
Arshad appealed to his fans for prayers, saying, “Please pray for me so I can perform well and reach the final.”
He made history in 2022 by winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, and he became the first Pakistani athlete to throw the javelin close to the 90-meter mark.
In 2024, Arshad made a whopping 92.97 meters throw to clinch gold at the Paris Olympics.