How Villagers, Relatives Pooled In Money To Help Arshad Nadeem Train
Arshad Nadeem didn't have the required financial resources to help his training during the early days. Once, his relatives and villagers pooled money to help him travel for training.
Not from the most privileged background, Arshad Nadeem had to put up a fight for the bare minimum in his career. When it comes to sports, Nadeem was a natural athlete who played cricket, football, and a number of other games. But, it was as a javelin throw athlete that he really found his calling. As Arshad clinches Pakistan's first-ever individual gold medal in the Paris Olympic Games, the stories of his hardships have flooded social media. One such story was narrated by his father Muhammad Ashraf, about how villagers and relatives pooled in money for Arshad to help him train.
"People have no idea how Arshad got to this place today. How his fellow villagers and relatives used to donate money so that he could travel to other cities for his training and events in his early days," his father Muhammad Ashraf told PTI.
Nadeem, after clinching the top spot on the podium in the men's javelin final, recalled his roots as he nearly hit the 93-meter mark in Paris, scripting history for his country.
"I come from a farming village, and every time I win a medal I think about my origins and that motivates me to do better. That's the reason I have remained humble and that's why I want to become more successful. "I had to go through very tough times to make it to this stage," Nadeem said as quoted by the PTI.
"I was a cricketer, I played table tennis, and I also participated in athletics events. But my coach told me I have got a very good physique for the javelin throw and I concentrated on javelin only from 2016," he said.
"People think my technique is more like a fast bowler than a javelin thrower, but I am happy with this action and the run-up I use. That is because of my early strength as a cricket bowler," he added.
Nadeem remains thankful to the entire Pakistan who supported him, prayed for him, helping him push through the tough times.
"I am thankful to the nation. Everyone prayed for me, and I was hopeful of doing well. Over the years, I got a knee injury and recovered, and worked hard on my fitness. I was even confident of throwing beyond 92.97m, but that throw was enough for me to get the gold," Nadeem said.