Pakistan singer Ali Zafar has announced a reward of one million rupees for star athlete Arshad Nadeem, who won a gold medal in the javelin throw event of the Paris Olympics 2024.
Arshad ended Pakistan’s 32-year medal drought in the Olympics after bagging a gold medal with the longest throw of 92.97 meters.
The 27-year-old set the Olympic record with a 92.97m throw in his second attempt, going past Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen, who threw farthest at 90.57 during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
His throw was enough for him to seal the Gold medal, the first-ever individual gold medal in the Olympics for Pakistan.
Following Arshad’s historic victory, Ali Zafar took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account and announced the cash prize for the athlete while congratulating him for the achievement.
Follow us on our Official WhatsApp channel
“@ArshadOlympian1 breaks record with 92.97 and wins gold for Pakistan,” posted Ali. “I shall be honouring him with a one million reward through @AliZFoundation.”
He also urged the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif to give a warm welcome to Arshad upon his return to the country and establish a sports academy honoring the javelin thrower.
“Let’s show our heroes the celebration they deserve. I urge @GovtofPakistan
@CMShehbaz to welcome him like a hero and establish a sports academy in his name,”. he added.
“If our athletes and sportsmen start getting the support they deserve we can win 10 golds a year.”
For the unversed, India’s Neeraj Chopra secured the silver medal with an 89.45m throw in his second attempt while all of his other attempts were deemed as “No Throw”.
Anderson Peters of Grenada clinched the bronze medal with his longest throw of 88.54 m.
Arshad failed to make a mark in his first attempt as it was deemed as “No Throw”. Meanwhile, Indian rival Neeraj Chopra also failed to make a mark in his first attempt before he recovered with an 89.45m throw.
All 12 participants were to throw three times in the first stage, after which the top eight athletes had three more throws.
For the unversed, Arshad Nadeem qualified in the final round of the Javelin throw on Tuesday with an 86.59-meter throw in his first attempt during the qualification round.
WATCH: Pakistan cricketers react to Arshad Nadeem’s historic Olympic victory