TAXILA: Punjab Sports Minister Malik Taimoor Masood Akbar has announced that a state-of-the-art stadium would be constructed in the village of Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.

The stadium would be constructed in Mian Channu tehsil of Khanewal district to pay homage to the athlete. “Arshad Nadeem is a national hero and Punjab government would accord a red carpet welcome to him. A grand ceremony will be organised in honour of all the athletes who bagged medals in the games,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said the Punjab Sports Board would keep up its efforts to promote sports.

Arshad Nadeem won a gold medal with a sensational fifth round throw of 90.18 metres, setting a new record, beating world champion Anderson Peters (88.64m), who won the silver medal.

Nadeem became the second Asian and 23rd in the world to have thrown the javelin past 90m. Chinese Taipei’s Chao-Tsun Cheng was the first Asian to achieve the feat with a throw of 91.36m in 2017.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2022