Pakistan javelin ace Arshad Nadeem undergoes successful elbow surgery

Reigning Commonwealth Games javelin throw champion Arshad Nadeem has undergone a successful elbow surgery in London on Sunday.

According to Dr Ali Sher Bajwa, an orthopaedic surgeon, Arshad Nadeem was carrying two injuries. The Pakistan javelin ace had been nursing an elbow injury since the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Arshad Nadeem returned to action for the first time since the Tokyo Games at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July this year. He finished fifth with a best throw of 86.16m despite issues with his elbow.

“I’m happy and satisfied that our goal behind the surgery was achieved,” Dr Ali Sher Bajwa said. “We used state-of-the-art facilities for the surgery. It’s a long haul (for Nadeem), these were serious injuries.”

Arshad Nadeem is expected to make a full recovery. He will stay with the medical staff for a week for rehabilitation. His recovery period will then continue under coach Salman Butt back home.

Late last month, Arshad Nadeem won the gold medal at the National Athletics Championship in Lahore with a throw of 81.21m. He claimed that he had trained for only 20 days for the event, reported Geo News.

Before that, Arshad Nadeem was in action at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey in August. There too he managed to win a gold medal.

Earlier in August, Arshad Nadeem, with a strapped right elbow, won the gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham with a throw of 90.18m. It was his personal best and established a new CWG record. It was Pakistan’s first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 56 years and their first in the javelin throw.

The field at Birmingham 2022 included reigning world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, Rio Olympics medallist Julius Yego of Kenya and London 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad.

India’s Neeraj Chopra, the defending champion, had pulled out of the Commonwealth Games due to an injury he suffered at the World Athletics Championships.