Neeraj Chopra scripted history on 27 August, Sunday by winning India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Championships. Neeraj topped the podium of the men's javelin event with the best throw of 88.17m, which he achieved in his second attempt. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem finished second in the event, with his season-best throw of 87.82m.
Both Neeraj and Arshad shared a heartwarming moment after the final, when their medals had been confirmed. After his last throw, Neeraj hugged his fellow Indian participants, Kishore Jena and DP Manu, following which he went to the Pakistani athlete and both shared a warm embrace too. Neeraj was also seen calling Arshad to join him for a picture along with the Czech Republic’s bronze medalist Jakub Vadlejch.
The respect and love shared by the two athletes is no secret. Both of them have come out to support or applaud each other on various occasions. Neeraj once defended Arshad when the latter was accused of tampering with the Indian star’s javelin. He supported his counterpart and said that there was nothing wrong with Arshad using his javelin to prepare.
Neeraj applauded Arshad’s performance after the event on Sunday and said, “I felt good that Arshad threw well and we discussed how both our countries are growing now. Earlier there were European athletes but now we have reached their level.”
Both Neeraj and Arshad have scripted history for their respective nations and Neeraj won his first gold, and second medal, at the tournament while Arshad won his first-ever medal at the World Championships. The two athletes will be seen in action at the Asian Games, which will be held at Hangzhou from 23 September to 8 October.
Netizens loved the act of mutual respect and love that occurred between the two players and took to Twitter to react to the same.
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