A day after Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra urged people to not use his name to “further propaganda and dirty agenda”, fellow Olympians, including Tokyo Games medalist Bajrang Punia, came call at his support, saying sport shouldn’t be used as a medium to discriminate.
“Whether the athlete is from Pakistan or the other country, he represents his nation. he’s a sportsperson first. So it’s not like we’ll say something against that person because he’s from Pakistan. There should be respect for athletes,” wrestler Bajrang, who won the trophy within the 65kg weight class on an equivalent day that Chopra won the javelin gold, told The Indian Express.
Chopra was dragged into an issue after his comment in an interview, that Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem was “moving around” together with his javelin during the Olympic final, were twisted by people with “vested interests”.
On Thursday, Chopra said on Twitter: “I would request everyone to please not use me and my comments as a medium to further your vested interests and propaganda. Sports teaches us to be together and united. I’m extremely disappointed to ascertain a number of the reactions from the general public on my recent comments.”
Nadeem said the 2 throwers were “very good friends”. He told The Indian Express on Friday: “Neeraj bhai ne bilkul theek kaha hai. Hum dono bahut achchhe dost hain aur aisi cheezen nahin honi chahiye (Neeraj did the proper thing. We are excellent friends and such things shouldn’t happen).”
Rio Olympics bronze medalist wrestler Sakshi Malik said: “I completely don’t approve of athletes being dragged into controversies or getting used for political reasons and to spread hate. and that we are pulled into bizarre controversies. Like Neeraj has been very badly suffering from what happened, and just thinking that a really small out-of-context remark blew up into such a huge controversy.”
“All sorts of weird questions are being asked and news channels turned alittle normal act of the Pakistani javelin thrower using Neeraj’s javelin for one attempt,” Sakshi said. “I’d urge fans to support Indian athletes and understand at same time that our on-field rivalries don’t ever equate to off-field enmity. they’re our friends and peers from an equivalent sport. And no athlete are going to be comfortable to be used for hate against another nation Table tennis player Sharath Kamal called the incident “disturbing”.
“When we competed within the SAFF Games in 2004 in Islamabad, there was always police or army escort with us. it had been always an equivalent person, so we got talking, and each side realised that what we are told is different from what the truth on the bottom is. We’re all an equivalent people,” Kamal, a five-time Olympian, told this paper.
He added: “We went shopping and he came along side us, showing us which shop to travel to, what are the great things to shop for , and what aren’t . That’s once we realised what proportion hatred is fed to people around, which makes no sense .”
Chopra and Nadeem, who finished fifth in Tokyo, share a cordial relationship outside competition. Even before the ultimate , the duo sat next to every other during their bus ride from the Athletes’ Village to the National Stadium, reliving old memories.
Bajrang said it had been important for people to respect the spirit athletes share. “I haven’t seen Neeraj’s video, but sport teaches us the way to remain united, rather than discriminating. once I meet wrestlers from Russia, USA, it’s always very cordial, it doesn’t desire we are rivals; we are all like brothers. The competitive spirit is on the mat only,” Bajrang said.
His views were echoed by former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha, who said sports and politics shouldn’t be mixed. “Whether I played against Pakistan or Australia or Germany… it’s all an equivalent . It’s war on the bottom , but I greet before the sport and greet after the sport . We don’t take anything outside the sector ,” Rasquinha said.
“I’ve always believed that we should always play sport in its purest form. Give everything for the country within the match that we’re representing, but let’s not mix (sports and politics),” he said.
During the Tokyo Olympics final, Chopra, before his first throw, couldn’t find his javelin before realising it had been with Arshad. He asked for it and sprinted to the beginning of his run-up. “I was checking out my javelin at the beginning of the ultimate (in Olympics). i used to be unable to seek out it. Suddenly I saw Arshad Nadeem was traveling with my javelin. Then I told him ‘bhai give this javelin to me. it’s my javelin. I even have to throw with it’. that’s why you want to have seen I took my first throw hurriedly,” Chopra told the days of India.
