Arshad Nadeem has thrown Neeraj Chopra the gauntlet he had wanted in his career after all. This could be “the beginning of a beautiful friendship”, for a change, as Neeraj pursues Nadeem.
That was how it was after the crowds had gone home and the dust settled in an empty stadium at Stade de France that dethroned Indian was speaking of India’s medal despite not having any clean throws during the final five times. It might have been a first for somebody who normally talks from the top rather than bottom.
Neeraj said he needs to move on following having taken everything right now – completing a sparkling circle that also included his World Championship gold in Budapest last year. He cited: “I have won all the biggest prizes are available in javelin throwing everywhere in the world. I’ve stuck between 88-89m for years now. I trust myself and my arm fully”.
Ironically, he says, “The big throw will come.” What he didn’t say out loud but meant was that this mark of 90m is currently an albatross hanging around him at competitions.“Does it bother you that your best finishes have never crossed 90 meters?” when Neeraj’s Budapest gold last season drew such question; “When 90m comes, it would come,” Neera responded, “For now, I am not going to let that bother me much.”
And then there was this big thinking about what happened at Stade de France on Thursday, where Nadeem threw huge over 90s like some bored bar guys flicking matchboxes into an empty glass – so nonchalant and calm he appeared.
Javelin has clearly created quite a South Asian axis with a direly needed rivalry between Indo-Pak sports ever since bilateral cricket became taboo or ended there being no more room for hockey too. It was clear in the somewhat dejected figure that bronze medalist Anderson Peters cut at the press conference later as Nadeem and Neeraj answered almost all questions themselves.
For a period of 116 years, it seems three men of color have never stood together on an Olympic javelin podium – the first time ever!
Now, it is important to understand who he is now that Nadeem’s stature has grown in such dominant fashion in Paris. A javelin run-up as short as Shane Warne’s in Test cricket but deceivingly brutal when he is up for it. He is probably a misfit at 27 years old with dodgy knees amidst the most scientific discipline within athletics.
The spear seemed to fly differently on Thursday-for some reason, rising into the air before deciding where to land. The short run-ups showed how strong Pakistan’s arm actually was.
But ask him about his art and what goes on behind it, he becomes speechless, many times reverting back to expressions of gratitude for God and my coach Salman Iqbal Butt.
Somewhere between Nadeem shelveing his ambitions of becoming Pakistan’s fastest bowler, one can trace back his running style to the days when he was a school and college student.
Nadeem, son of a mason from Mian Channu village in the Punjab province of Pakistan has been dogged by injuries since he first held a javelin. However, last January he was still injured until Dr Ali Sher Bajwa who is based in London treated him with phenomenal results at Paris.
But it wasn’t always like this. Nadeem’s first throw was short of abysmal, probably reaffirming the usual trope about him by his baiters in India as just another faulty product from across the border.
If you asked him what happened, he would laugh and say “Arrey no, I was in such a fantastic frame of mind, such good shape that I even forgot my run-up. Hota hai…” After what eventually transpired, even his worst critics would nod in awe and admiration and admit that yes, miracles do happen.
We had known this for long through one person Chopra Neeraj. In Paris on Thursday Neeraj felt vindicated about Nadeem’s aspirations.
