New Delhi: Reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem gave a massive scare to Pakistani fans with two below-par attempts in the men’s javelin qualification round, but made amends with a powerful throw of 85.28 on his last attempt to qualify for the finals at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Nadeem’s first two throws (76.99m on the 1st attempt) and 74.17m (on the second attempt) were well below the qualification mark of 84.50m. But the Paris Olympic champion upped his game and hurled a massive throw of 85.28 to set up a final showdown with his arch-rival Neeraj Chopra of India.
Neeraj, the reigning world champion, earlier qualified for the finals, which will take place on Thursday, with an 84.85m throw, breaching the automatic qualifying mark is 84.50m, on his first attempt. Julian Weber (87.21m) and Dawid Wegner (85.67m) were the other big names to qualify from Group A.
The Indian superstar is aiming to defend his world title, which he won at the 2023 Budapest championships.
(More to follow)..