Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra breaks silence on Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem’s javelin controversy – WATCH video

Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra has spoken about the controversy that has been created on the episode narrated by him that took place at the finals of the Javelin event at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month.

Chopra had recalled the time just before his first throw in the final. Apparently, he wasn’t able to locate his javelin and after searching, he found it in the hand of Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who had walked away with it.

“The story is that I was searching for my javelin at the start of the final. I was not able to find it. Suddenly I saw Arshad Nadeem was moving around with my javelin. Then I told him, ‘Bhai give this javelin to me, it is my javelin! I have to throw with it’. Then he gave it back to me,” Neeraj Chopra told the Times of India (TOI) in an interview.

This led to Nadeem facing a lot of criticism from Indians and Neeraj Chopra’s fans. Now, in a video message on Twitter, Chopra said: “I would request everyone to please not use me and my comments as a medium to further your vested interests and propaganda. Sports teaches us to be together and united. I’m extremely disappointed to see some of the reactions from the public on my recent comments (sic)”.

मेरी आप सभी से विनती है की मेरे comments को अपने गंदे एजेंडा को आगे बढ़ाने का माध्यम न बनाए। Sports हम सबको एकजूट होकर साथ रहना सिखाता हैं और कमेंट करने से पहले खेल के रूल्स जानना जरूरी होता है  pic.twitter.com/RLv96FZTd2

— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 26, 2021

“That’s why you must have seen I took my first throw hurriedly! Arshad Nadeem gave a really good performance in the qualifying round as well as the final. I think it is good for Pakistan, they have a chance to show more interest in the javelin and do well at the international stage in the future,” Chopra had added in the interview. As for Neeraj, he had been attending functions and events since his return from the Tokyo Olympics and had also fallen ill during this period.