It's always hype whenever India and Pakistan compete with each other in any sport or other activities due to their decade-long enemy. But when it comes to Olympics, it's always tough for both of these countries to win even a medal. But this year, Neeraj Chopra made history by winning the javelin throw competition while Arshad Nadeem came fifth. Here are some of the points which gave Indians an edge over Pakistanis in winning a medal at the Olympics.
Neeraj Chopra’s journey from being body-shamed to winning India’s 1st Olympic gold in athletics
With a stellar throw of 87.58 m, the 23-year-old became the first Indian athlete to clinch Olympics gold. Also, he’s only the second Indian to win Olympic gold after shooter Abhinav Bindra’s Beijing Olympics 2008 feat.
Congratulating him on the glorious victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “History has been scripted at Tokyo! What @Neeraj_chopra1 has achieved today will be remembered forever. The young Neeraj has done exceptionally well. He played with remarkable passion and showed unparalleled grit. Congratulations to him for winning the Gold. #Tokyo2020.”
After the striking win at Tokyo Games, many may find it hard to believe that Chopra’s journey wasn’t as effortless as his throw made it look.
Chopra weighed close to 90 kg when he was 12 and was made fun of by his peers. When his parents felt hurt because of the body shaming, he began working out at a gym 6 km away from home.
His village in Haryana, where 500 families reside, doesn’t have a single playground, sports stadium, or gymnasium.
Chopra’s foray into athletics was marked by his excessive body weight and his steps to control it.
Being the youngest, he had a tough time at the gym and ended up using equipment that no one else wanted. When he told his parents that he didn’t like the gym, they sent him to Panipat, and that’s how his journey as an athlete began.
Chopra went to the Sports Authority of India center in Panipat, where he met javelin thrower Jaiveer, who introduced him to the sport. His first throw sans any training was close to 40m that impressed Jaiveer. Thereafter, he began training, and the rest is history.
Chopra drafted history in 2016 when he became the first athlete to win gold at the U-20 World Championships in Poland. He followed it up by a gold medal at the 2016 South Asian Games and another gold at the Asian Athletic championships.
The farmer’s son from Haryana’s Chandra village also won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was conferred the Arjuna Award.
His village and his family of 19 have been celebrating ever since he qualified for the finals on August 4.
Chopra’s father, Satish Kumar, was confident of his son’s win in the Tokyo Olympics finals.
Chopra is an alumnus of Kurukshetra University and currently holds a subedar in the Indian Army.
Arshad Nadeem journey to Olympics
- Grew up playing cricket at the junior level and took up Javelin only in 2015.
- Took training at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) High-Performance Training Centre in Mauritius in 2016.
- Finished 8th in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast while playing with a back injury.
- Clinched bronze at the Asian Games with an 80.75m throw, participating alongside Chopra, who won gold with a throw of 88.06m.
- Has a personal best of 86.38m. He registered the throw in April in the Imam Raza Athletics Cup in Iran.
- Nadeem hopes to emulate his Indian counterpart Neeraj one day.
But what makes the Indians more advantage over Pakistanis in winning medal can be easily determined from this tweet by Hasan Cheema.
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From this tweet, we can easily understand the Indian sporting authority make sure to take care of their star players while Pakistani players have worked hard on their own. Let's hope one day Nadeem will make history in the javelin.
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