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DAWN.COM •

Athletics Federation of Pakistan slaps lifetime ban on Arshad Nadeem’s coach Salman Butt

The Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) on Sunday imposed a lifetime ban on Salman Butt, coach of Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem “for gross violations of the AFP Constitution” in an attempt to “uphold transparency, constitutional compliance, and organizational integrity within the federation”. The decision against Butt comes against the backdrop of AFP seeking reasons behind a sharp decline in Arshad’s performance where he finished 10th in the men’s javelin final at the World Athletics Champ­...
Dawn •

Arshad ends 10th in post-surgery return as Walcott claims javelin gold

TOKYO: The night was Keshorn Walcott’s from the start. Right from the second throw, he had the lead in the men’s javelin final. The highly-anticipated clash of the South Asian titans — Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra — failed to gain momentum in the sold-out Japan National Stadium that turned its attention to Walcott on his way to winning his maiden world title. Walcott’s win, thanks to a season’s best 88.16m throw, was pleasantly surprising but not entirely unexpected given he was ranked four...
Dawn •

Live Updates: Men’s javelin finals at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025

This is the official end of our live coverage for the men’s javelin final on Day 6. Four new world champions were crowned tonight in an unexpected turn of events. USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won gold in the women’s 400m that she ran for the first time contrary to her signature 400m hurdles event. Over on the men’s side, Botswana’s Buseng Collen Kebinatship picked up his maiden world title in the men’s 400m. Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba was crowned women’s triple jump champion to dethrone...
DAWN.COM •

Live Updates: As it happened: Arshad Nadeem qualifies for men's javelin final at the World Athletics Championships

After his two failed attempts to make it to the final, doubts and audible murmurs of shock hung heavy in the air at the Japan National Stadium — that is, until Arshad Nadeem dispelled them all with a single throw of 85.28m to advance to tomorrow’s big league at the World Athletics Championships. The burden of expectation came from all sides. Arshad became an Olympic champion and record holder last year in a headline-grabbing moment few can forget. He won silver at the last World Championships to...
Dawn •

A year on from making Olympic history, Arshad set for tilt at world title

TOKYO: Arshad Nadeem’s formula for winning Olympic gold in Paris was simple. He set himself a goal, and God gave it. The response was typical for the 28-year-old Pakistani, who made himself comfortable on a lobby couch at the athletes’ hotel for the World Athletics Championships, kicking off a slipper and tucking one foot under his thigh as he spoke about his win a year on. Faith in God and a supernatural sense of being seemed to be the only explanation for Arshad’s monstrous throws, forged from...
DAWN.COM •

Crouser, Chebet clinch golds as Tokyo’s athletics party kicks off

TOKYO: Sporting excellence returned to Tokyo on Saturday as the opening day of the long-awaited World Athletics Championships delivered on every front. Records were smashed and world titles defended, with some surprise wins keeping the night exciting for a sold-out stadium that stood empty during the Covid-hit Olympics four years ago. The most predictable win of the night went to American Ryan Crouser, who won his third consecutive world title (22.34m) and became the only man to do so in the sho...
DAWN.COM •

Tokyo set for athletics extravaganza to ease pain of Covid-hit Olympics

A sea of purple posters at the Narita Airport announces the World Athletics Championships — in both English and Japanese. Banners of Haruka Kitaguchi, Japan’s javelin star, are plastered on the walls of the mazy metro stations in the Japanese capital. On the buildings in Ginza, digital billboards have the Japanese athletics team on display. After a spectator-less Olympics four years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic, Tokyo is geared up to host a global athletics extravaganza beginning on Saturday...
DAWN.COM •

Rayan, Azlan headline Pakistan’s performance at junior swim worlds with new national records

Pakistan’s junior male swimmers tore through the national record books as Rayan Awan and Azlan Sohail set new marks at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Romania, which concluded on Sunday. Rayan clocked 30.87 in the Men’s 50m Breaststroke to smash the previous record of 30.98 set by Abdul Aziz Chaudhry 17 years ago. To put it into perspective, the record was set before Rayan was even born. He finished 58th out of 86 swimmers in the breaststroke sprint. Azlan can safely call himself the...
DAWN.COM •

‘Mazhab nahi, soch badlo’: Religious minorities seek end to forced conversions, intolerance

“I have a problem with the use of the term ‘minority’. It only serves to otherise religious groups within the country and reinforce existing divides. We are all equal citizens of Pakistan.” Christians like Pastor Daniel were among hundreds gathered at Karachi’s YMCA on Sunday for the Minority Rights March, which, ironically, was celebrated a day earlier since “minorities wouldn’t get a day off to celebrate it”. Jinnah’s oft-quoted speech of Pakistani citizens being free to go to temples and plac...
DAWN.COM •

Arshad Nadeem retains javelin supremacy with gold at Asian Athletics Championship

Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem threw a massive 86.40m to win gold in the men’s javelin final at the Asian Athletics Championship in Gumi, South Korea, on Saturday. India’s Sachin Yadav took silver with an 85.16m and Japan’s Yuta Sakiyama took home bronze with an 83.75m throw. Both athletes threw a personal best. After leading the field in the first few throws, Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage was bumped off the podium to finish fourth with an 83.27m throw. India’s Yash Vir Singh finished fi...
DAWN.COM •

Noor clinches world squash title with thrilling comeback in front of home crowd

Noor Zaman had the comeback of the tournament when he put on a show for a full house arena to be crowned men’s champion in the U23 World Squash Championship here in Karachi. The 21-year-old was up against Egypt’s Karim El Torkey in what was expected to be anyone’s game as both men entered the final unbeaten throughout the tournament. Noor took the first point in front of a packed home crowd full of citizens, foreign dignitaries, and squash legends like Jahangir Khan, Gogi Aladdin and Qamar Zaman...
Aurora Magazine •

Rising Stars: Youth Climate Activists From Pakistan

Climate change is more than just a buzzword for the generation most impacted by it. For young activists across the country, this isn’t an abstract issue; it is a fight for survival, justice and the future. They are actively rewriting the narrative on addressing climate change through local grassroots movements, educational resources and social media campaigns. Climate change became personal for Didar Ali when the 2010 floods destroyed the agricultural lands and indige...
DAWN.COM •

SWIMMING: THE FIRST LADIES OF THE POOL

The first time Pakistan’s fastest female swimmer competed was when she snuck into a men’s race at Karachi’s elite Sind Club. It was the late 1980s, and women like Shaan Kandawalla had nowhere to swim competitively. And while she was just a teenager, Shaan’s mission in life was to correct this bias. By the time she bowed out of the sport a decade later, her greatest achievement was not the records she had shattered every year, or the garland of gold medals she had won at every championship, but t...
DAWN.COM •

Mahnoor Ali, Harmas Raja clinch U13, U11 titles at US Junior Squash Open

Pakistan’s Mahnoor Ali was crowned the Under-13 champion at the US Junior Squash Open while compatriot Muhammad Harmas Ali Raja took home the U11 title at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Ali beat Egypt’s Linda Elsayed 11-8, 12-10 before taking a setback in third set with a 5-11 loss. However, the 11-year-old made a solid comeback 11-6 to win the fourth set and U13 title, becoming the first Pakistani to do so. The U13 Asian No 2 has remained undefeated through...
DAWN.COM •

PARALYMPICS: THE UNSUNG CHAMPION

After his 52.54m throw that won him a bronze medal in the Men’s F37 Discus Throw event at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Haider Ali has been waiting. And waiting. And waiting. As Pakistan’s most decorated para athlete, he no longer yearns for success. It’s recognition and respect from the nation that he craves, something he’s scarcely had in almost 20 years. Now in its final stretch, his athletic career has been a bright, wondrous firework, illuminating Pakistan’s sports scene, only to dissipa...
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