American astronaut Neil Armstrong when he placed his foot on the surface of moon for the first time said “That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. I am reminded of this historical utterance as I see a javelin soars to the skies and lands at a distance that has never been achieved before in such a throw.

My version of this would be “A small throw by Arshad, a giant leap for Pakistani sports”. A young man by his determination and undaunted spirit launched not only the javelin to claim his rightful place on the victory stand but suddenly breathed a new life into Pakistani sports that had all but been relegated to the back benches after the poor and woefully dismal performance of our cricket team.

This young man’s historical achievement proved beyond a shadow of doubt that there is no dearth of talent in this country and all that stands between us and claiming our rightful place in the field of sports is vested interest, bureaucratic interference and plague of favoritism.

Arshad has proved in no uncertain way that the country is ripe with talent not only in the field of sports but in all spheres of life and all it requires is to allow these young men and women to prove their mettle and there is no doubt that given the chance they will make the country proud of them and they too will receive the accolades just as the country today pays tribute to Arshad.

Much has been published and said about Arshad but we do not know much about his hometown, Mian Channu in Punjab. Handed down through generations the story of Mian Channu relates how it was named after a Sufi saint, Baba Mian Channu, who had lived there at one point. After the passing away of Baba Mian Channu he was buried there. Now comes the interesting part.

There is an urban legend about the name of the town; as the story goes during the British rule the occupiers attempted to change the name of the city. The new name was painted on all the boards. However, an unknown hand changed the boards back to the original name. The frustrated administrators and occupiers tried repeatedly but in vain, the name kept changing and the name of the city has remained ‘Mian Channu’ since then.

The exciting victory of Arshad is the second event to attract global attention to this small town. The first was an accidentally fired BrahMos missile from India which landed in Mian Channu in 2022. On 9 March 2022, at 6:43 pm, Air Defence Operations Centre of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) picked up a high-speed flying object inside Indian territory. “From its initial course, the object suddenly manoeuvred towards Pakistani territory and violated Pakistan’s air space, ultimately falling near Mian Channu at 6:50 pm”.

The crash near Mian Channu caused damage to civilian property but no casualties. This brought this little known Pakistani town to world attention but not in the way that the present day hero of Mian Channu Arshad Nadeem has brought it to the attention of the world and created an almost fairy tale atmosphere, which has captivated the attention of the young and old in Pakistan and also focused world attention on this town.

Arshad Nadeem is now rightly the most famous Pakistani in Mian Channu but even in this small town there are celebrities in their own right. One of the most well-known personalities is Maulana Tariq Jameel, the Pakistani Islamic television preacher and scholar, then there is the well-known stand-up comedian Iftikhar Thakur. Also, there are well-known political personalities such as Ghulam Haider Wyne, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Pir Zahoor Hussain Qureshi and Rana Babar Hussain.

The most touching aspect of Arshad’s victory in the Olympics was the reaction of the two mothers of the young men placed first and second in the competition. Neeraj Chopra from India, who has been competing against Arshad for quite some time now, was placed second and won the silver medal.

Neeraj’s mother, Saroj Devi, in her remark said she was happy with her son’s performance and Arshad is also like her own child. Similar sentiments were expressed by Arshad’s mother, Raziah Parveen, and the two athletes summed it up by saying that they were simple household women who considered their sons’ friends as their own. Unlike an India and Pakistan cricket match there was no focus on the rivals but on the game itself. Isn’t that how it should always be?

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024