Pakistan continues to celebrate Arshad Nadeem's heroic effort at the Paris Olympics which saw him bag a gold medal in the men's javelin throw event. The track and field athlete has already received a total of 250 million rupees ($897,000) since his return to Pakistan and might as well bag more in the days to come.
Punjab's chief minister Mariam Nawaz personally met with Arshad in his village in the Mian Channu district to present a check of 100 million rupees ($359,000). Mariam also presented him with a brand new Honda Civic car with a special registration number of "PAK92" to commemorate Nadeem's record-shattering throw of 92.97m which brought him glory in Paris.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, followed suit and announced a sum of 150 million rupees for Nadeem at a grand ceremony which was organized in Islamabad to celebrate the latter's unparalleled feat.
Notably, Nadeem's grand success couldn't have come at a more auspicious time as Pakistan celebrates its 78th independence day on Wednesday (August 14). PM Sharif lavished praise on Nadeem and lauded him making the entire nation proud.
“You have doubled the delight of 250 million Pakistanis because we'll also celebrate our Independence Day tomorrow," Sharif was quoted as saying by PTI. "Today every Pakistani is happy and the morale of the whole country is sky-high."
Pakistan has also launched a special postage stamp to honour Nadeem and to celebrate his jaw-dropping effort at the Paris Olympics.
Arshad Nadeem thanks Neeraj Chopra's mother for blessings
Notably, Neeraj's mother Saroj Devi had addressed Arshad as her son and congratulated him after his golden finish in Paris. Reacting to the incident, Arshad expressed his gratitude towards the love and affection showered by Neeraj's mother.
"A mother is a mother for everyone, so she prays for everyone too. I'm grateful to Neeraj Chopra's mother. She's my mother too. She prayed for us, and we were just two players from South Asia who performed on the world stage," Pakistani media quoted Nadeem as saying after he returned home.
