KARACHI: India’s Olympic gold medalist in javelin throw, Neeraj Chopra, has said that his relationship with Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem will no longer be the same following the recent India-Pakistan tensions.
Speaking to Al Jazeera ahead of the Doha Diamond League event of the World Athletics held in Qatar, Neeraj Chopra was asked about his connection with Arshad Nadeem. He responded:“I never had a deep friendship with Arshad Nadeem, but we have always respected each other.”
“Now this relationship with Arshad Nadeem will not be the same as it was before (the recent Indo-Pak tensions),” he added. He further said that after the Pahalgam attack on April 22nd, he faced severe criticism on social media because during those days, he had invited Arshad Nadeem to the ‘Neeraj Chopra Classic Javelin Throw Event’ to be held in India.
It should be noted that this invitation was extended to Arshad Nadeem by Neeraj Chopra before the Pahalgam attack which Arshad Nadeem rejected, saying that he was busy preparing for the Asian Athletics Championships to be held in South Korea from May 27 to 31.
The event named after Neeraj Chopra, was eventually postponed following cross-border tensions. It should be remembered that last year at the Paris Olympics, Neeraj won the silver medal with a throw of 89.45 meters, while Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem made history by winning the gold medal with a best throw of 92.97 meters.
It should be remembered that after the Pahalgam attack, on the night of May 6 and 7, the Indian army launched a cowardly attack in the darkness of night, targeting the civilian population in the areas of Kotli, Muzaffarabad and Bagh in Azad Kashmir, as well as in Muridke and Ahmedpur Sharqia, in which two mosques were martyred, while 31 Pakistanis, including two children, were martyred and 51 were injured in the attacks.
