Arshad Nadeem, the Pakistan javelin thrower that has set a record is excited that his competition with Indian superstar Neeraj Chopra is receiving as much attention as cricket matches between these arch rivals because he believes it would encourage young people in both countries to take sports seriously.
This resulted in Arshad Nadeem beating Chopra for the first time in 11 encounters to win Olympic gold with a Games record of 92.97 meters on Thursday night. With 89.45 meters as his season’s best, Chopra won the silver and continued their legendary battle.
“Absolutely rivalry does happen when it comes to cricket or any other game but at the same time this is a good thing for youngsters from both countries who are pursuing any game to follow us and follow their idols of respective games and bring laurels for their country,” said the 27-year-old after becoming the first Pakistani individual ever to win an Olympic gold medal, according to PTI reports.
Moreover, he became Pakistan’s first individual medallist since boxer Hussain Shah claimed bronze at Seoul Olympics in 1988 middle weight category.
While being fierce competitors on-field, Nadeem and Chopra share a great friendship off it too. When Nadeem posted on social media few months back asking people for money so that he could buy one good javelin, Chopra was among those who responded positively.
Nadeem was playing dark horse while being six feet tall against top qualifier Chopra in Thursday night’s final.
With this Pakistani shocking even seasoned campaigners by two throws longer than 90 metres which were more than enough after bagging a Commonwealth Games title beyond 90 metres again couple of months ago. One of his attempts broke an Olympic record that had been set by Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen who had gone up to 90.57m at Beijing Games (2008).
“I am grateful to everyone in my country. Everybody prayed and I was hopeful. I had a knee injury for years, recovered from it, worked hard on my fitness. And I even felt that I can throw beyond 92.97m today but this throw is enough for me to get the gold,” Nadeem said.
“I will keep working hard and trying to give my best in the coming days and months. In fact, I am planning to surpass this mark also.”
Nadeem further revealed his past by saying he initially began playing cricket then shifted to table tennis before finally taking up javelin throwing after realizing that he had the right body structure for it.
“I was a cricketer, played table tennis as well as athletics events also. But my coach told me that have got a very good physique for javelin throw and since 2016 I have been concentrating only on javelin,” he added.
People think that my technique is more of fast bowler than that of a javelin player but I like this action with its run-up because it reminds me of early strength as cricket bowler,” he laughed.
Khanewal village in Punjab province is where Nadeem comes from and according to him; the place has always been supportive during his training until now when he made history at Tokyo Olympics while based in Pakistan.
A farming village is my home and anytime I win a medal, it reminds me of where I come from and this pushes me to do better. I have stayed humble because of that, which is why I want to be more successful. “I had to go through rough times to get here,” he confess.
