Javelin ace Arshad Nadeem finished fourth in the Paris Diamond League.
The elite one-day athletics event on Sunday was his first international competition of the year following a precautionary withdrawal from the event in Finland with a minor calf muscle injury.
His impressive throw of 84.21 meters on the fifth attempt was not enough to make the podium as Germany’s Julian Weber (85.91m), Grenada’s Anderson Peters (85.19m) and Jakub Vadlejch (85.04m) finished ahead of him. . .com from Paris, Nadeem said he felt good about the season opener.
“I hope to do my best at the Olympics,” he said.
His modest first throw of 74.11m was followed by a much improved second throw of 80.28m. He then progressed to 82.71m and 82.17m before throwing 84.21m to narrowly miss out on a medal.
The 27-year-old and his coach return from Paris on Monday, where he will train in Lahore for around two weeks before returning to the French capital on July 24 ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 26.
“God willing, I will use these two weeks of training to make up for any shortcomings,” Nadeem said.
The target for next month’s Olympics is to achieve a personal best throw, which currently stands at an incredible 90.18 metres.
Coach Salman Butt was equally happy with Nadeem’s performance, especially after a knee surgery in February, from which the javelin star made a quick recovery in two months.
“So the good news is that his rehabilitation has been successful and he can now compete again.
The Olympics will be the first time Nadeem and India’s javelin powerhouse Neeraj Chopra are pitted against each other since last year’s World Championships, where the former made history by winning Pakistan’s first-ever medal (silver) at the prestigious championship, while the latter bagged the gold.
Last week, Chopra clarified that he has no plans to compete in the Paris Diamond League.
The reigning Olympic and world champion has already finished this season.
At the Doha Diamond League in May, he took the silver medal with a massive throw of 88.36m. He then stunned the home crowd at the Federation National Cup with a more modest win of 82.27m, before heading to his third match of the season at the Paavo Nurmi Games, where he took another gold for 85.97 m.
