Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem vs India's Neeraj Chopra and Rohit Yadav: Find out all about javelin's cross border rivalry

Source: Twitter

It was a good day for India at men's javelin throw qualifiers as both the Indian athletes - Neeraj Chopra and Rohit Yadav - taking part in the competition qualified for the final at the World Championships. Neeraj's best throw came only in his first attempt as he threw a superb 88.39m to directly qualify for the final while Rohit stood 11th in the final 12 list with the best throw of 80.42m. There is one more Asian in the final 12 who will be competing for the gold medal on Saturday (Sunday morning in India) in Oregon and he is Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem. Nadeem began poorly, with first two throws going way below the qualifying mark of 83.50m. He was, in fact, way below the 80m mark. This was a poor show in comparison to the Indians. But he built up pace in his run-up and put all his power to take the last throw to 81.71 to qualify for the final. It was not easy for him but the Pakistani qualified eventually. 

Nadeem is one of the best Track and Field athletes to come out of Pakistan and has shared a rivalry with Neeraj over the last few years. In Asian Games 2018, when Neeraj Chopra won the gold, Nadeem had finished second. Their picture on the podium where both of them are congratulating each other with their country's national flag wrapped around their bodies had gone viral back then. 

The controversy

After the Tokyo 2020 gold medal, a controversy erupted in India when during an interview Neeraj said that when he went to pick up his javelin, it was missing and Pakistan's Nadeem was busy practicing with it. Indian fans had reacted aggressively to this, sensing a foul play on the part of the Pakistani.

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— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 26, 2021

However, Neeraj quickly posted a video on Twitter, asking everyone not to push ‘vested interest and propaganda’ with this matter. Nadeem too had clarified that javelins are provided by the International Olympic Committee and he started practising with one in the rack.