Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem finished one-two in the men’s javelin final at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest.
New Delhi: Neeraj Chopra’s mother Saroj Devi’s love for Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem is winning hearts on the internet after she refused to discriminate by their origins of birth. Both Chopra and Nadeem were on the podium on Sunday in Budapest as India and Pakistan finished one-two in the men’s javelin event at the World Athletics Championships 2023.
An Olympic champion in Tokyo, Neeraj threw his spear to 88.17m to clinch his and India’s maiden gold medal at the World Athletics Championships. Nadeem, who won gold in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, had to settle for silver with a 87.82m throw, In fact, it was also Pakistan’s first-ever medal in the history of the competition.
Following Chopra’s win on Sunday, Devi was asked how she felt about her son beating a Pakistani athlete for gold medal. “A player is a player, it doesn’t matter where he comes from, I am glad that the Pakistani player (Arshad Nadeem) won as well,” she told reporters.
A reporter asked #NeerajChopra ‘s mother about how she feels about Neeraj defeating a Pakistani athlete to win gold.
His mother said : A player is a player, it doesn’t matter where he comes from, I am glad that the Pakistani player ( Arshad Nadeem) won as well.
This whole… pic.twitter.com/imk3ZHyLrC
— Roshan Rai (@RoshanKrRaii) August 28, 2023
Meanwhile, Nadeem said he is happy that Indian and Pakistan are dominating the sport once dominated by the Europeans. “Neeraj and I have a very healthy competition and we respect each other a lot. There is no Pakistan-India rivalry in a bad way.
“When we talk we are just happy that both of us have come to the fore in a competition usually dominated by Europeans,” Nadeem told PTI. According to Nadeem, the silver medal at the Worlds was very satisfying as he competed against Chopra, one of the best in recent years.
Even after the javelin event concluded, Neeraj Chopra and third-placed Jakub Vadlejch posed for the shutterbugs with the flags. With no Pakistan flag at his disposal, Nadeem was lurking around when Chopra asked him to join them in the frame, showing the world about their brotherhood.
Nadeem also congratulated Chopra after the event. “So happy for Neeraj bhai! India and Pakistan are one and two in the world. Inshallah, we will be 1 and 2 at the Olympics,” Arshad had said on Sunday.
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