“Even In The Past…”: Neeraj Chopra’s Father On Athlete’s Bond With Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem

A World Athletics Championships gold medal is no more a dream for India’s javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra. The star athlete fouled in his first attempt in the final at Budapest, Hungary on Sunday night, but made a solid comeback and threw the javelin to a distance of 88.17m in his second attempt. It eventually helped Neeraj secure the top honour in the final as the second-best was 87.82m from his Pakistan opponent Arshad Nadeem. The latter won the silver medal at the event, while Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic ended the tournament with a bronze, thanks to his throw of 86.67m.

Neeraj Chopra’s father was happy with the fact that two of the top three spots belonged to the Asian players.

“I was confident, he was confident too,” Neeraj’s father told India Today after his son became the first Indian player to claim a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

The proud father also talked about the bond Neeraj and Arshad share with each other.

“Both of them (Neeraj and Arshad) came up with a superb effort. If you look at it, all the javelin throwers share a very good rapport. They don’t think about their nationalities, they support each other. They always look to improve their performances,” he said.

“Even in the past, both of them (Arshad and Neeraj), this is a very proud moment for Asia,” he added.

Arshad had earlier insisted that he has no rivalry with India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj. He said there is always scope for learning from top athletes like the Indian. Both Chopra and Nadeem have qualified for next year’s Paris Olympics.