NEW DELHI, Mar 7
Neeraj Chopra’s rival on the field and close friend off it, Pakistan’s javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem on Thursday said that he hasn’t been able to acquire a new international standard javelin for many years, adding that he had just one javelin and had been using it for the past seven to eight years.
“It has now got to a stage where the javelin is damaged and I have asked the national federation and my coach to do something about it before the Paris Olympics.
When I started off in 2015, competing in international events I got this javelin,” he said.
“For an international athlete aiming to win a medal in the Olympic Games, you need proper equipment and training facilities,” the athlete who recently underwent surgery for an elbow problem, added. With a 90.18m throw, the 27-year-old Pakistani created a new javelin throw record at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to claim the title. It ended Pakistan’s 60-year wait for a CWG gold medal.
Throughout the years, Nadeem has developed a deep friendship with India’s Chopra. “I felt good that Arshad threw well.
We spoke and discussed how both our countries are growing now. Earlier there were European athletes but now we have reached their level,” Chopra had said last August after the two had made track and field history by finishing one-two in the javelin throw at the World Championship Muhammad Ashraf, Nadeem’s father, had watched Chopra and Nadeem fight for the biggest prize from Mian Channu in Khanewal district of Pakistan. “The boy from India has won the gold. Arshad often talks about him whenever he is at home. Our whole village was watching Arshad compete last night. Arshad has made the village, as well as the whole of Pakistan and the Asian continent proud.”
Nadeem had also spoken about mutual respect between him and Chopra. “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 was quoted as saying by media.
