Arshad Nadeem Pakistan's best hope in Paris Olympics

Karachi: Arshad Nadeem, one of star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra's fiercest competitors in international competitions, will head an 18-member Pakistan contingent to the Paris Olympics with the hope of clinching the elusive medal for his country at the quadrennial showpiece.

The Pakistan Olympic Association on Monday announced the contingent comprising seven athletes and 11 officials, including coaches in four disciplines.

Besides Nadeem, Pakistan's best hope in athletics, the other athletes are shooter Kishmala Talat, sprinter Faiqa Riaz and swimmer Jehanara Nabi, among others.

Kishmala, a 10m air pistol exponent, is the first woman sportsperson to qualify for the Olympics in shooting sport.

Pakistan's last medal in the Olympics came in 1992 Barcelona when the national hockey team won bronze.

Since 1948 when Pakistan first took part in the Olympics, it has won 10 medals with eight of them coming in men's hockey. The team has failed to qualify for the last two Olympic Games.

The only realistic hope for a medal in Paris is javelin thrower Nadeem who had clinched silver behind Neeraj Chopra at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. He is also a bronze medallist at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games where Neeraj won gold.

He also became the first athlete from South Asia to to breach the 90m mark, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which Neeraj missed due to injury.

Arshad had finished fifth in the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 84.62 metres with Neeraj clinching gold.

The contingent: Athletics: Arshad Nadeem, Faiqa Riaz, Salman Iqbal Butt (support staff), Dr. Ali Sher Bajwa (support staff); Swimming: Mohammad Ahmed Durrani, Jehanara Nabi, Ahmed Ali Khan (support staff); Shooting: Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, Gulfam Joseph, Kishmala Talat), Junaid Ali (support staff), Gennady Solodovnikov (support staff).

Contingent officials; Mohammad Shafiq (chef de mission), Javaid Shamshad Lodhi (deputy chef de mission); Zainab Shaukat (admin officer).