KEY POINTS
- Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem will compete on Sept 18 at the World Championships
- Once seen as symbols of cross-border sportsmanship, the two Olympic medallists now reflect the frosty ties between their countries
TOKYO, Japan: The javelins will fly high in Tokyo next week, and so will emotions, as Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan and Neeraj Chopra of India prepare to go head-to-head in a long-anticipated clash at the World Athletics Championships.
But what was once hailed as a “brotherly rivalry” has since taken a sombre turn, mirroring the deteriorating relations between their two countries.
The duo, who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder on Olympic podiums, exchanging warm smiles and mutual praise, are now distant, both in words and gesture.
Their upcoming meeting on September 18 will mark their first face-off since the May conflict, the worst military standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbours since 1999.
From Friendly Rivalry to Frosty Distance
Chopra, 27, the reigning world champion, had previously spoken fondly of his Pakistani counterpart.
Likewise, Nadeem, 28, often returned the respect, most recently at the Paris Olympics, where he stunned the world with a Games-record throw of 92.97m, clinching Pakistan’s first Olympic gold in four decades and relegating Chopra to silver.
Their mothers, too, had voiced the spirit of sportsmanship. “They are like brothers,” Nadeem’s mother Raziah Parveen had said. Chopra’s mother Saroj offered a heartfelt sentiment: “He is also our boy.”
But the tone shifted after the May 2025 military clash between the two countries. In the days that followed, Chopra withdrew an earlier invitation extended to Nadeem for his annual ‘Neeraj Chopra Classic’ javelin event in India.
Nadeem had already declined the offer, citing training conflicts, but Chopra made it clear that current events had changed the equation.
“I want to clarify that I don’t have a particularly strong relationship with Nadeem; we were never really close friends,” he told AFP. “But because of the current situation, things will not be as they were.”
Nadeem in a phone interview told AFP on his way to Tokyo. “When he won, I congratulated him. When I won, he did the same. It’s part of the game, like wrestling, someone wins, someone loses.”
High Stakes in Tokyo
The men’s javelin final is set for September 18, and it’s more than just a medal on the line. For the two athletes, it’s a chance to define a new chapter in their careers, and perhaps in the complex India-Pakistan sporting narrative.
Nadeem, recovering from calf surgery in July, has competed just once since Paris, a victory at the Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea, where Chopra was absent. His return adds an air of unpredictability to the showdown.
Meanwhile, Chopra will look to defend his world title, carrying the expectations of a billion-strong cricket-loving nation that has embraced his rise to global athletics glory.
