Karachi, Nov 20 (PTI) Olympic gold-winning Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem has revealed that he still hasn't fully recovered from a calf surgery that he underwent in July this year despite competing in two major events since then.
Nadeem won a gold medal in the Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh recently after a disappointing 10th-place finish in the September World Championships in Tokyo.
"It gives me satisfaction that I could win another gold medal for my country and I am always grateful to Almighty Allah for his blessings but I am yet to get over the disappointment of the World Athletics Championships in September," he said.
"I won gold here (Riyadh) but the recovery from surgery kept me from giving my best. A throw of 83.05m is not up to my standards as Olympic champion," he added while analysing his performance.
Nadeem, Pakistan's most successful athlete in track and field events, won the gold in the Olympics last year with a monster throw of 92.97m.
Nadeem said he is working on drawing up a smooth rehabilitation program which would allow him to get back to full fitness by early next year.
The athlete belonging to a village in Mian Channu in Punjab previously won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 90.18m and a silver at the World Championships in 2023.
This year, he also won gold in the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea.
Nadeem had to undergo the calf muscle surgery in England this year in July.
He didn't have the ideal build-up for the Islamic Solidarity Games. His flight from Lahore to Riyadh was delayed by some eight hours due to operational problems and he also had to fight to have his long-time coach and mentor Salman Butt accompany him.
Butt was slapped with a life-time ban by the Pakistan Amateur Athletics Federation in October for some constitutional violations in elections while heading the Punjab body.
Butt approached the Pakistan Sports Board and eventually it led to the country's Olympic Association clearing him to accompany the Pakistan squad to Riyadh.
This report includes content sourced from Press Trust of India (PTI), edited for clarity and context.
