"Villagers, Relatives Used To Donate Money": How Arshad Nadeem Became Pakistan's Biggest Hope For Olympic Medal

It takes a village to raise a champion is an apt way of describing Pakistan's Commonwealth Games champion javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem's rise. For the record, the only Asian javelin thrower to breach the 90 metre mark isn't reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra but his cross-border neighbour Nadeem, with whom he has shared a very cordial relationship. Pakistan, a country, where cricket is believed to be the only sport where serious investments come in, Nadeem's achievements aren't because of the system but despite it.

No wonder, villagers in Khanewal in Pakistan's Punjab province celebrated their boy's qualification with a lot of fervour.

"People have no idea how Arshad got to this place today. How his fellow villagers and relatives used to donate money so that he could travel to other cities for his training and events in his early days," his father Muhammad Ashraf told PTI on phone.

Pakistan sent a total of seven athletes to Paris and six of them failed to qualify for the finals of their respective events with Nadeem, 27, now Pakistan's last and biggest hope for a medal in the Olympics.

Right after Nadeem's qualification for the finals for the second successive Olympics, there was celebration at his house where his parents, brothers, wife and two children and fellow villagers raised slogans of 'Pakistan Zindabad'. His parents also distributed sweets.

But his father says the work is still not done.

"If my son can bring home an Olympic medal for Pakistan it would be the proudest moment for us and everyone in this village," he said.

He recalls that when his son first took up Javelin throwing and had to go for trials and competitions up country how his fellow villagers would all chip in with contributions for his