History-making Pakistan javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem is quite pleased that his rivalry with Indian superstar Neeraj Chopra is becoming as talked about as the cricketing battles between the two feuding neighbours as he believes it will fuel the sporting ambition of youngsters in both the nations. Nadeem bested Chopra for the first time in their 11 face-offs to claim the Olympic gold medal with a sensational Games record of 92.97m on Thursday night. Chopra took the silver with a season's best effort of 89.45m, adding another chapter to their storied rivalry.
"The rivalry is there when it comes to cricket matches and other sports, definitely. But at the same time, it is a good thing for youngsters in both countries who are pursuing a sport to follow us and follow their sports icons and bring laurels to their countries," the 27-year-old Nadeem told reporters after becoming the first Pakistani to clinch an individual Olympic gold medal.
He is also Pakistan's first individual medallist since the 1988 Seoul Olympics where boxer Hussain Shah claimed a middle-weight bronze.
Nadeem and Chopra, despite being fierce competitors on the field, are good friends off it. A few months back, when Nadeem made a social media appeal for funds to buy a quality javelin, Chopra was among those who stepped forward to offer their support.
The over six feet tall Nadeem was the dark horse in Thursday night's final where Chopra entered as the top qualifier.
But the Pakistani, who won the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold with an over 90m effort, stunned the high-quality field with two throws that measured over 90m, one of them being a new Olympic record, which was previously held by Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen, who cleared 90.57m in the 2008 Beijing
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