India’s Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan 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”.
Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (R) and India’s Neeraj Chopra celebrate after the men’s javelin final in Paris.
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.
