Shahid Afridi praises Arshad Nadeem, calls him 'a great athlete'

Former Pakistan cricket team skipper Shahid Afridi has praised Arshad Nadeem for his spectacular performance at the Tokyo Olympics and lauded his athletic abilities.

The whole nation praised Nadeem, who has generated hope among the masses of ending Pakistan's medal drought in the Olympics. The athlete will compete in the final of the men's javelin throw competition on Saturday.

"@ArshadJavelin has a wonderful story of reaching the #Tokyo2020 and he's making sure it's worth it," the former skipper said as he lavished praise on Nadeem.

"A great athlete! Congrats on qualifying for the final and all the best wishes," the former skipper added.

Arshad Nadeem is the first-ever Pakistani athlete to qualify for the final of any track and field event in the Olympics.

In his first attempt, the 24-year-old Pakistani athlete could reach the 78.5m mark but in the second attempt, Arshad created history with a throw of 85.16m that also placed him on top of group B.

This was overall the third-best throw in the contest after India’s Neeraj Chopra (86.65m) and Germany’s Johannes Vetter (85.64m).

Earlier this year, Arshad threw the javelin to a distance of 86.39m for his personal best and a national record during the Imam Reza championship in Iran. Earlier in 2019, he threw 86.29m at South Asian Games in Nepal.