Self-made Arshad Nadeem’s gold medal, Olympic record inspire millions

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pakistan has a new national hero in Arshad Nadeem, who has returned home after performing a miracle of sorts in the Olympic Games 2024 at Paris, France, which concluded on August 11. The 6'3" javelin-thrower, hailing from Mian Channu, fulfilled his dream of not only winning an Olympic gold but also created a new record by sending the spear to 92.97 meters in an incredible performance. 

It was not only his personal glory but it brought the whole country to life. His record performance cheered up millions of people back home besides causing happiness and joy among the expatriate Pakistanis residing in different corners of the planet. Pakistan, finally, bagged another Olympic gold after 40 years. 

There is a world of difference, however, in the circumstances in which the two Olympic golds, separated by four decades, have come Pakistan’s way. There was hardly any element of shock or even surprise when Pakistan’s star-studded hockey team had clinched the gold at Los Angeles in 1984. 

Those were the times when hockey, as national sport, got all the due attention and its leadership was in the able hands of Air Marshal Nur Khan and Brigadier Manzoor Hussain Atif. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had more than adequate resources at its disposal to build, prepare and train a squad for the Olympic Games. 

Fast forward to 2024 and look at the situation in which Arshad boarded the plane for Paris. There was negligible support to him from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and, apparently, none whatsoever from any other institution. Everyone is aware of the role of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) in sports affairs over the years and they don’t mind their non-performance. 

In fact, the 27-year-old Arshad and his coach Salman Fayyaz Butt, among seven athletes, were reportedly the only ones to have their air tickets financed by the PSB for the Paris Olympics. The PSB has had the funds but their utlization has always been debated. Who financed the joyrides of a full battalion of officials accompanying the handful of athletes will obviously remain hidden between the files and life will move on.

Coming back to Arshad, it has been a tale of quiet resolve for him. His family struggled to even buy food of their choice. He was the third of seven siblings with their father being a construction worker. As father was the sole breadwinner, the family got to eat meat only once a year, during Eid al-Adha, according a report quoting one of his siblings.

Arshad has had the talent and he kept on working quietly. Like any other individual, he also knocked many doors and sought support from the concerned authorities. He was not treated any differently as the existing system prevailing in Pakistan. To his credit, he didn’t get disheartened and continued his journey without looking back. 

It is nothing short of a miracle that he kept marching on and overcame obstacles of different magnitude all by his own. He had faith in his abilities and the fullest backing of his family which allowed him to stay afloat. He knew that he had an opportunity of lifetime at Paris where his fiercest rival was none other than the defending champion, Neeraj Chopra from across the border. 

Arshad, who didn't have the funds to even buy a javelin for himself, rose to the occasion at the biggest stage of the world and even Chopra, among the most well-looked-after athletes in the field, was not spared. History has been rewritten.

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National Games or money-minting exercise?

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), having done very little to promote the cause of sports eversince its inception and whose office-bearers have mostly been in the news for the wrong reasons to say the least, has to shoulder the blame once more for not having taken the desired steps yo take care of their showpiece event, the National Games, meant to be held after every two years.

The provincial Olympic Associations look forward to hosting the National Games primarily for the loads of money that comes with the package. It’s one event they cannot imagine to lose, no matter how many times they have to postpone it.

The 31st National Games, now scheduled to be staged in Peshawar later this month, would certainly have served greater purpose had it been held prior to the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

In Pakistan the practice has been to hold the National Games in the four provinces by rotation. It’s no doubt the turn of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, formerly Northern Western Frontier Province (NWFP), to stage the event but it had to postponed due to the security concerns in capital Peshawar.

The national Olympic body, POA, don’t do anything to annoy their provincial chapters for obvious reasons. The POA Executive Council had taken the decision to postpone the 31st National Games that was to be held from March 25 to 31.

The POA President, Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hasan, had stated at the time of announcing the decision on March 16 that the foreign teams were already not willing to come to Pakistan because of the security issues and they didn’t want a situation where a domestic event is also affected by some incident.

“The relevant authorities in Peshawar were not willing to give security clearance for the games at this stage. We took the prevailing situation in the country into consideration and felt the best thing at this stage was to postpone the games. There was also pressure from parents and associations to postpone the games and obviously nothing is more important to us than the safety of our athletes and officials," he was quoted as saying.

The National Games, already been postponed once before last year due to security issues, was then rescheduled for December 26 to 31.

The President of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association (KPOA), Syed Aqil Shah, who is also the KP Sports Minister, has maintained that the 31st National Games will be held in Peshawar on its schedule amid tight security.

”We have given the mandate by the house in which the office-bearers of all the affiliated associations ensured their support. Besides they have shown more spirit and zeal to hold the Games on its schedule,” he observed in the media briefing.

“We are ready to hold the Games and the grant is there. All appropriate measures would be taken and services of Police, Frontier Corps, and even if needed, Army would be taken to provide foolproof security to the teams and officials,” Aqil Shah stated.

It may be recalled that at least three people were killed and several others were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of Qayum Stadium after the closing ceremony of Inter-Provincial Games in Peshawar in November 2008.

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POA chief regrets inadequate preparation for South Asian Games

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The top functionary of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has regretted inadequate training and international exposure to the athletes ahead of the 11th South Asian Games scheduled to commence in Dhaka later this month.

General Syed Arif Hasan, President, POA, in a recent chat, observed that Pakistan would have stood a chance of claiming many more medals if the athletes were provided the desired training and exposure at the international level.

“For reasons beyond our control we were unable to execute the plan that would have helped improve our record in the upcoming regional Games in which our athletes had fared rather well in the past,” he stated.

He described the current year (2010) as one of the most important ones for Pakistan during which the country has to participate in as many as three multi-sports events are to be held. The South Asian Games would be followed by the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.

When inquired about the problems, the POA chief singled out the lack of funds as the biggest obstacle in carrying out their plans.

“Obviously we are not in a position to implement our plans in the desired manner due to scarcity of funds. We have had to contain our activities that didn’t help in making advancement in the field of sports,” he said.

He looked forward to the governmental support in future in order to accomplish the cherished goals of the national Olympic body.

“Making the use of the available resources we are putting together our strongest possible squad for the upcoming South Asian Games and we are hoping that our athletes will come up with encouraging performance in Dhaka,” the POA chief added.

The 2010 South Asian Games is scheduled to take place from January 29 to February 8. This will be the third time that the Bangladeshi capital hosts the Games, thus becoming the fourth city to host the Games multiple times after Colombo, Kathmandu and Islamabad.

Besides Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh the athletes from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives and Bhutan would be taking part in the 11-day extravaganza.

It’s indeed a pity that Pakistan’s athletes have been denied the opportunity of gearing up for the mega events. Whether it’s the lack of coordination between the concerned bodies or any politics involved between them it’s the country that’s going to suffer more likely than not.

The Federal Ministry of Sports and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) have their own set of priorities and for the time being at least they don’t seem to be in any mood to proactively make things happen.

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on their part should also shoulder the blame for not having taken the measures to arrest the decline in standard of sports in the recent past. They were not short of funds until their marketing arm, the Pakistan Sports Trust (PST), was feeding the federations.

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