Neeraj Chopra Blunt About Relationship With Arshad Nadeem Amid India-Pakistan Border Tension: "Not..."

Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem are two of the brightest javelin throwers in the world. Both are Olympic gold medallists and their duel at the Paris Olympics was widely followed across the world. On the eve of the Diamond League in Doha, the two-time Olympic medallist, and reigning world champion, sought to set the record straight when asked about his equation with Arshad, who won the gold medal in the Paris Games last year after the Indian finished at the top of the podium in the Tokyo edition in 2021.

Neeraj also cleared the air over his relationship stance with Nadeem after the after recent border tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22. 

Ahead of the Doha League on Friday, a reporter asked Neeraj: "You both (him and Arshad) are close friends on and off the field, you have shown athletes can bring the world together. Will the recent happening affect your relationship?"

"First of all, I really want to clear that I don't have a very strong relationship. I mean we have to talk...I have good friends in the athletics community all around the the world. But if somebody talks to me respectfully, I always like to talk to him respectfully. It's good that all javelin throwers are...because it's a very small community, everyone competes for their country, everybody wants to give their best," Neeraj Chopra replied. 

"Because of this (recent border tension between India and Pakistan) I don't think so, it will be not like something like before. If somebody gives be respect, I will give him the same."

 The Paris Games silver-winning star from Haryana had earlier said he was deeply hurt to see his and his family's integrity being questioned in abusive social media posts after