Arshad Nadeem's Olympic feat enthused Pakistan but why is the national media slamming the government?

Nadeem enthused the nation struggling with inflation and price rise, at least momentarily, by rewriting the sporting history of a country which waited for 32 years to finally reach the podium of the grand sporting event.

The last time Pakistan won a medal in the Olympics was in 1992 when the once glorious hockey team, which did not even qualify this year, had won bronze.

It was the same hockey team that had brought a gold medal for their country 40 years ago in 1984.

The wait was indeed long but Arshad Nadeem finally took the charge on his shoulder to become the first individual gold medallist for Pakistan.

A giant Olympic record throw of 92.97m ensured Nadeem his victory and a golden end to his Paris campaign.

It is always exciting when India and Pakistan face each other on the sporting field and finally moving away from cricket where the Men in Blue beat their neighbours in T20 World Cup a few months ago, this time two athletes from the other sides of the border battled on the field to clinch the numero uno position on the Olympics podium.

In Tokyo, 2021, Indian Neeraj Chopra brought home his first gold but this time it was his Pakistani opponent who dashed his hopes with his strong performance. Interestingly the media is full of heart-warming stories of the two athletes' friendship and their parents' large heartedness in blessing each other.

However the Pakistani media is unforgiving in its criticism of the Pakistan government. Pakistani newspapers praised Nadeem for adding a feather to the sporting crown of the country but also slammed the government for struggling to provide proper facilities and showing little interest in increasing the sports budget needed to even dream of having more athletes competing to bring home medals in 2028 when the Olympics will be hosted in Los Angeles.

In its Editorial titled 'A Star is Born', Dawn News questioned the government for failing to provide funds to Nadeem ahead of the Games when he was training for the mega sports platform in Paris.

"Why did Arshad not receive this support when he needed the funds most — prior to the Games? Why does the country and its government wait for something to be achieved before springing into action? Why does it not strive to create these moments of national glory?" Dawn News asked the newly elected government of Pakistan with perhaps a hope that similar results might be repeated in Los Angeles and fulfil the dream of the 235 million who want to cheer for their own athletes in the bigger arena and not keep themselves confined to basking in the past glory of the cricket team which failed to even cross the group stage of the T20 World Cup this year.

The Express Tribune lamented the poor representation of Pakistan in the Paris Olympics and blamed the lack of governmental patronage for the harrowing state of sporting affairs of the country which was formed in 1947 and continuously witnessed political instability since then.

"It is disappointing to note that only seven athletes were there at the Paris Olympics from a nation of 240 million. This is simply because professional grooming of players and their encouragement lacks governmental patronage. Hockey is one such game that has gone down the drain and there is no mentionable field-fight all these years. So is football wherein Pakistan's youth can easily surpass many of their Arab and European compatriots, but it does not even have a roll-call to hunt talent," the Editorial said.

A similar voice of sadness was echoed in the Editorial published by Pakistan Today which said the country should have a dedicated athletic stadium for players.

"That would ensure that no future talented youngster would be deprived of the facilities he needs, as Arshad once was," the Editorial said.

Neighbouring India might not have fared too well in Paris winning just 6 medals, one short from the previous edition and no gold, but the country at least sent 117 athletes for the Games.

Pakistan should focus more on funding sports than earning the dubious distinction of a terrorism sponsor if it really wants to convert the country into a serious contender in global sports.

The country can take a leaf out of Narendra Modi-led India which is trying to create a pro-sporting culture by launching the Khelo India initiative in 2017.