Pakistan'

7:caption

Commonwealth record-breaking Gold medallist Arshad Nadeem's coach Syed Hussain Bukhari expressed that he wishes to see Neeraj Chopra competing with Arshad in either Islamabad or Lahore. He also went on to say that Neeraj is like their son and they will shower him with love if he ends up winning.

Hussain Bukhari said, “Most of the time, Arshad trains at the Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad and Lahore too, my wish is to see Arshad and Neeraj compete at a packed stadium in Lahore or Islamabad. Neeraj is also like our son.”

"I as a Pakistani promise you that if Neeraj wins, we will shower him the same love we showered on Milkha Singh Ji when he won against Abdul Khaliq in Lahore in 1960. Athletes share a common bond of love for the sports," he added.

Chopra was sidelined from the Commonwealth Games as he suffered an injury at the World Championships final, where won the silver medal.

"After Arshad's Asian Games bronze and Tokyo Olympics qualification topping, I can say I get to see 30-40 javelin throwers in almost each training ground in Lahore. In recent months, I have seen youth coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and from near the Pakistan-China border areas come to enquire about trials at Lahore. What Neeraj did for India, Arshad's Olympic participation and today's record can do the same in Pakistan," said Bukhari.

Talking about Arshad Nadeem's Gold medal performance, the Pakistani athlete became the first-ever South Asian to break the coveted 90m mark as he beat stars like Anderson Peters, Julius Yego and Keshorn Walcott with a 90.18m throw on his fifth attempt to win the gold medal. 

This was also Pakistan's first ever gold in Javelin Throw at the CWG. He also became the fourth javelin thrower in recent years to breach the 90m mark after Johannes Vetter, Anderson Peters and Jakub Vadlejch.

World Champion Anderson Peters of Grenada finished second with a best attempt of 88.64 metres. Peters also created his own record as he registered the furthest-ever second place throw in the history of the Commonwealth Games. Kenya's Julius Yego also had an incredible throw to get his season best of 85.70m and take the bronze medal.