LAHORE: Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem made an underwhelming return to competition, finishing ninth in the javelin throw at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern meeting in Switzerland on Thursday.
Competing in the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event, Arshad’s best effort was 78.47 metres, recorded with his final throw. His series read: X, 74.87m, 73.26m, X, 73.39m and 78.47m.
The outing was Arshad’s first competitive appearance since November and his first event of the 2026 season. The 29-year-old’s performance comes just weeks before he begins the defence of his Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow.
Arshad won the javelin gold medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games with a Games record throw of 90.18m. He will face a strong field in Glasgow, with India’s Neeraj Chopra, Rohit Yadav and Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga also expected to compete.
Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2026
