PARIS If things had gone Arshad Nadeem's way, he would probably not have the shiny Olympic gold medal around his neck now.
As a young boy, the Pakistani dreamed of becoming a fast bowler in cricket. But that changed when he was talent-spotted at the age of 14 by javelin coach Rashid Ahmad Saqi.
In a recent interview with The Straits Times at Toyota Asia's Start Your Impossible night at ShangriLa Paris, Nadeem recalled how the javelin took him on a winning trajectory.
Speaking in Urdu through his coach Salman Butt, the 27-year-old said of his beginnings: "I am basically a cricket player, and have also played football at the local level.
My elder brother was an athlete and he introduced me to the javelin, he was sort of a decathlete.
"My childhood coach, Rashid Ahmad Saqi, motivated me, picked me up. He told me, 'you have good height, good attributes to become a good javelin thrower', and that's how I started." Cricket is the biggest sport in Pakistan, but Nadeem was eyeing a different path.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 17, 2024-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 17, 2024-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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