Pakistan dominated the men’s javelin throw final at the 6th Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh as Arshad Nadeem expectedly defended his gold medal and Muhammad Yasir won silver.
Arshad was in a league of his own headed into the seven-man event; his personal best of 92.97m — which won him gold and the games record at the Paris 2024 Olympics, was head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
Predictably, he had the lead from the start and was the only competitor to throw more than 80m — prompting hearty Arabic praise from the commentators — though he looked disappointed after most of his throws.
The 28-year-old took home gold with a modest 83.05m throw on his second attempt, while Yasir shifted gears in the sixth and final throw to win silver in 76.04m after overtaking Nigeria’s Samuel Adams Kure, who bronze in 76.01m.
A sparse audience at the Prince Faisal Bin Stadium was seen clustered behind the javelin throwing sector, waving Pakistani flags and holding up their mobile phones to get a picture of the javelin superstars in action.
Arshad opened his campaign with a low 75.44m first throw before breaching the 80m mark on his second and third throws. However, by his fourth throw he had come back to 77.06m and had a no throw on his fifth attempt.
Javelin in hand, he turned to the crowd before his sixth and final throw and orchestrated the audience with rhythmic claps above his head.
The 77.98m final throw was inconsequential to his standings; he bent to the floor in prostration as he secured his gold medal before shaking hands with the other throwers zipping up their tracksuit jackets in the cool 20 degree weather that the capital offered them.
Arshad won gold at the previous edition of the games in 2022 with an 88.55m throw that broke the games record.
Yasir’s desire for an 80m plus throw will have to wait till next year; the 27-year-old registered modest throws of 70.32m, 74.43m, 72.82m, 73.78m and 71.79m to seal a bronze medal right from the first throw.
However, he snatched a comfortable silver from Nigeria’s Kure with a final throw of 76.04m to give Pakistan a one-two finish in the event.
Yasir was not too far off from his personal and season’s best throw of 77.43m that won him a bronze medal at the Asian Throwing Championships in South Korea this August.
The duo last competed together in May at the Asian Athletic Championships in Gumi, South Korea, where Arshad won gold in 86.40m while Yasir finished eighth with a 75.39m throw.
This was Arshad’s third international outing of the year. His run at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships ended in 10th place owing to calf pain, for which he had surgery over the summer.
More to follow
