Arshad Nadeem in action© AFP
Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem became the new talk of the town as he edged past India's 'Golden Boy' Neeraj Chopra in Men's Javelin Throw final, to clinch the gold medal at Paris Olympics 2024. Nadeem set a new Olympics record with his fabulous throw of 92.97m in his second attempt. In return, Chopra ended up delivering two foul throws but also managed to pull off the silver medal with a distance of 89.45m in his second attempt. With this win, Nadeem also became Pakistan's first individual Olympics gold medalist.
After Nadeem's triumph, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar extended good wishes to star javelin thrower.
"Out of nowhere, this son of a lion has won Pakistan a gold medal. What a player, Arshad! You have achieved this on your own, with your own hard work and calibre. Many congratulations to you, to Pakistan. Mood of the entire country has changed with one gold medal...One guy is trending across the whole world, that is Arshad Nadeem," Akhtar said in his video posted on X (formerly Twitter).
So proud of you @ArshadOlympian1 . Jo khushiyaan aap nay hamari udaas qom ko di hain, is ka koi comparison nahi hai. pic.twitter.com/iiCnaOsCPO
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) August 8, 2024
The former pacer also shared an unheard struggle story of Nadeem, where he mentioned a name 'Rizwan', who had helped him during his surgery.
"Arshad Nadeem's success has a story behind it, which is about Rizwan and the National Hospital...Rizwan got Arshad treated, not only in Pakistan but also sent him to England, got surgeries done. And today finally (Arshad won the gold medal)...So so proud of you Arshad....This is not one gold," said Shoaib on a video shared on X (formerly Twitter).
"Pakistan sent seven athletes (to Paris Olympics) and out of nowhere, one out of the seven has won gold medal...You have done something that no one expected. You thrashed the Olympic record and throwing 90m (plus) throws (multiple times)," he added.
Apart from Shoaib, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also shared a video, showing the likes of Umar Gul, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and others celebrating Nadeem's victory.
Nadeem has been doing well for a long time. He won a silver medal at the World Championship last year and also a gold in the Commonwealth Games 2022 with a 90.18m throw.
On Tuesday he qualified for the finals with a throw of 86.59m, bested by Chopra who produced a massive throw of 89.34 to qualify first.