Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem and India’s Neeraj Chopra will battle for javelin gold in Tokyo next week, the latest chapter in a brotherly rivalry which has soured since a deadly military conflict between their countries.
The Tokyo Olympic champion, Chopra, and his successor in Paris, Nadeem, will line up at the athletics world championships for their first encounter since the nuclear-armed neighbours engaged in a four-day conflict in May, their worst since 1999.
Chopra, who took Olympic silver behind his great rival a year ago, had often spoken about his friendly relations with Nadeem despite the tensions between their countries.
After Nadeem won gold and Chopra stood alongside him on the podium in Paris, Nadeem’s mother Raziah Parveen said: “Winning and losing is part of sport, but they are like brothers.”
Chopra’s mother Saroj said she took some solace in Nadeem beating her son because the Pakistani “is also our boy”.
But publicly at least that changed after the conflict, with high-profile figures from both countries under pressure to distance themselves from the other side.
The 27-year-old Chopra, who will defend his world title in Tokyo, said that they were “never really close friends”.
Nadeem, 28, also played down any friendship with Chopra.
“When he won, I congratulated him, and when I won the gold, he returned the same courtesy,” Nadeem told AFP by telephone en route to Tokyo.
“(Just as) in wrestling, one wrestler wins and the other loses — it’s part of the game.”
Invitation withdrawn
Nadeem, who is returning to competition after calf surgery in July, hails from a farming village.
He became an overnight sensation when he gave Pakistan their first Olympic gold in 40 years with a Games-record throw of 92.97m.
Nadeem has competed only once since Paris, winning the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea in May when Chopra did not participate.
The last time the pair clashed was at the Paris Olympics.
In April, the Indian star invited Nadeem to India for his ‘Neeraj Chopra Classic’ javelin event but the Pakistani declined, saying it clashed with his training schedule.
Chopra then withdrew the invitation after an attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists.
India accused Pakistan of backing the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied.
In the conflict that followed several people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.
“I want to clarify that I don’t have a particularly strong relationship with Nadeem, we were never really close friends,” Chopra said afterwards.
“But because of the current situation, things will not be as they were. That said, if someone speaks to me with respect, I always respond in kind.”
The world championships start on Saturday, with the men’s javelin final on September 18.
