LAHORE: The Athle­tics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) has written a letter to Salman Butt, the coach of star javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, seeking the reasons behind a sharp decline in the athlete’s performance including his below-par show in the World Athletics Champ­ionship held in Tokyo last week.

The 28-year-old Arshad, who made entire Pakistan feel proud by winning gold medal with a record 92.97-metre throw at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finished a poor 10th in the world championship.

In the letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the AFP has asked several questions from Salman and directed him to submit his reply by Oct 5.

After Arshad’s gold medal show in Paris last year, the AFP had disassociated itself from his training programme and his participation in world events, giving the athlete and Salman liberty to take their decisions.

When the Pakistan Sports Board handed a cheque of Rs10 million to the AFP for training Arshad early this year, the federation returned the same with an instruction to directly give it to the athlete.

According to the letter, the AFP asked Salman to submit a report about Arshad’s training activities from September 2024 to August 2025. The coach was also asked to name the coaches, whose services were hired for Arshad during the said period, plus details about his participation in international events in the same time.

Salman was also asked to explain why Arshad did not participate in any Diamond League meetings, and whether he hired the services of any foreign coach or trainer during this period.

Moreover, Salman was required to submit the report of Arshad’s high performance training and his physical fitness level, and also if the coach made any contact with the federation or any other national institution during the past year or so.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2025