Neeraj Chopra wanted Arshad Nadeem to win medal in Tokyo 2020 Olympics

India’s javelin Gold winner Neeraj Chopra said that he wanted to share the Tokyo 2020 Olympics podium with Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem.

Speaking to News 18, the 23-year-old, who became India’s first historic athletic Gold winner with a 87.58m throw, said that he would have loved it if the Pakistani athlete won a medal as it would have put Asia on the map.

Arshad, who was Pakistan’s last medal hope, finished 5th with his best throw of 84.62m, 0.82m behind bronze medalist Vitezslav Vesely.

“[It would have been] good to have Nadeem on the podium too. Asia ka naam ho jata [Asia would have made a name],” Neeraj said.

When asked about Indo-Pak rivalry, the athlete did not think it was fair to drag the hype over to the Olympics and felt that it was best left in cricket.

“It’s okay to do the comparisons in cricket where 7-8 countries are taking part but not fair in Olympics,” he said.

Arshad congratulated the Indian athlete on winning the Gold medal and called him his favourite.