Neeraj Chopra's message to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, who broke his javelin record with CWG gold, goes viral

Off the ground, Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem remain good friends and compete with highest respect for each other. Neeraj had clinched the gold at Asian Games 2018 and Nadeem was the bronze medallist

Source: Twitter

Arshad Nadeem created history for Pakistan when he became the first gold medallist for his country in 60 years in Track and Field. It took so long for Pakistani athlete to win a gold in Athletics and it had to be Nadeem, who despite a trouble elbow, pulled off a spectacular win, defeating world champion Anderson Peters in the process. Not just that, Nadeem managed to throw over 90m, throwing 90.13m in the fifth attempt to seal the gold. The win has brought many reactions from all over the world, with even Indians appreciating this huge effort from the Pakistani. 

India's Neeraj Chopra, who has been a rival of Nadeem over the years, did not take part in the men's javelin event at the CWG because of a thigh injury. The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist was not there but he sent a congratulatory message for the Pakistani, who is also a good friend of his. On Nadeem's Instagram post, Neeraj posted a comment: "Congratulations Arshad bhai for gold medal and crossing 90mtr with new games record. Aage ke competitions ke liye all the best."

There is a also a controversial story involving Neeraj and Arshad. When Neeraj won the gold in Tokyo, he had said that just before his first throw he could not find the javelin he was going to throw with. Later he found that Nadeem was practicinng with it. He went up to him and took it to make his first throw. As soon as he said that, a controversy erupted with Indians sensing a foul play on part of the Pakistani before Neeraj himself posted a video to request those who ran an agenda to stop doing it. 

Off the ground, Neeraj and Nadeem remain good friends and compete with highest respect for each other. Neeraj had clinched the gold at Asian Games 2018 and Nadeem was the bronze medallist. Their picture from the podium while hugging each other had gone viral as well.