INDIA (Web Desk) - Saroj Devi, the mother of Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra, won the hearts of millions of people by showering praise on Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who defeated her son to clinch the Gold medal in Olympics.
In an interview to Indian media, Saroj Devi said that the family is happy over Neeraj Chopra’s silver medal.
“Arshad Nadeem is just like my son. Everyone tries hard to reach at that point and he worked very hard,” said Neeraj Chopra’s mother.
It is all part of the game, she said.
The remarks of Saroj Devi were praised at both sides of the border as she showed true sportsmanship.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem shattered the Olympic record with a humongous 92.97m throw in Javelin final to win the Gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday.
Arshad Nadeem now became the first individual Olympic gold medallist from Pakistan. He broke the previous Olympic record of 90.57 - set in 2008 Beijing Olympics by Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen.
India’s Neeraj Chopra came up with a season best throw of 89.45m to clinch silver. Grenada's Anderson Peters fetched the bronze medal with a throw of 88.54m.
The last time Pakistan stood on the Olympic medal podium was on August 8, 1992, when the national hockey team defeated the Netherlands with 4-3 to win a bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics. This is the first Olympic gold for Pakistan in any discipline in the last 40 years.
"When I threw the javelin, I got the feel of it leaving my hand and sensed it could be an Olympic record," said the 27-year-old Nadeem.
Nadeem, the 2022 Commonwealth champion who was fifth at the Tokyo Olympics and a silver medallist at last year's Budapest world championships, said the result was "very important for Pakistan because I have worked very hard over the years for this".
"My training and hard work have paid off."
The rivalry with Chopra "is there, no doubt", he added.
Also Read: Arshad Nadeem strikes gold in historic first for Pakistan
"Like cricket, the javelin rivalry was present! People back home in Pakistan and India were eager to see us compete together.
"Rivalry is there when it comes to cricket matches, other sports, the two countries have a rivalry, but it's a good thing for the young people in both countries to watch our sport and follow us.
"It's a positive thing for both countries."
Chopra agreed, saying it was good for both countries, and could act as a spur to attract more people to athletics, and javelin in particular.
Chopra was satisfied with his best throw, but not much else.
"I'm not that happy with my performance today and also my technique and runway was not that good," he said.
"Only one throw, the rest I fouled. That second throw I believed in myself to think I can also throw that far. But in javelin, if your run-up is not so good, you can't go very far."
Chopra admitted to not doing much throwing in training because of a groin injury.
"The last two, three years were not so good. I'm always injured. I really tried hard, but I have to do some more work on my injury and technique.
"But I will work hard in the future. Today's competition was really great. Arshad threw really well. Congratulations to him and his country,” Chopra said.