Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem missed out on the Olympic medal and finished fifth in the men's javelin throw event in Tokyo on Saturday as India's Neeraj Chopra claimed gold.
Nadeem threw for 82.91m on his opening attempt of the final round and 81.98m on the second. His final attempt of the round and competition was a foul as he finished fifth - just two shy of a podium finish that would have netted him a rare medal.
His main rival, India's Neeraj Chopra, saw both his attempts of the final round adjudged as fouls but his 87.58m throw in the opening round was good enough to get him the coveted gold medal. Meanwhile, world number one Johannes Vetter of Germany failed to make it out of the opening round with a disappointing 82.52m in the first attempt followed by two foul throws.
Arshad congratulated Chopra for winning the title and apologise for his failure to win a medal in a Tweet.
https://twitter.com/ArshadNadeemPak/status/1423983262406483972
Nadeem finished fourth in the opening round with a throw of 84.62 metres on his third attempt. India's Neeraj Chopra topped the opening round with a throw of 87.58m.
Nadeem's first throw landed at a distance of 82.40 - well below his personal best of 86.38m. His second attempt was deemed a foul. However, it is common for throwers to take time getting warmed up and work their way up to bigger distances. That is precisely what happened with Nadeem, who threw for 84.62m on his third attempt.
Despite the 5th finish, Pakistan fans continued to support Arshad terming him Pakistan’s pride. This year, first time Pakistan came close to an individual Olympics medal with weightlifter Talha Talib, Shooter Gulfam Joseph and Arshad Nadeem missing on the medals despite their brilliance.
https://twitter.com/76Shadabkhan/status/1423980451782397961