ISLAMABAD: India’s Olympic javelin gold medallist Neeraj Chopra has said that it is now “completely out of the question” for his Pakistani rival Arshad Nadeem to attend his upcoming event in Bengaluru, following an attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, India and Pakistan, have reached their lowest point in recent years after 26 tourists were killed in the region on Wednesday.
Just a day prior to the attack, Chopra had announced that top javelin athletes from around the world — including Paris Olympics champion Nadeem — had been invited to participate in the inaugural Neeraj Chopra Classic, scheduled for 24 May.
He had hoped the event would serve as a steppingstone towards eventually hosting a Diamond League meet in India.
Facing strong backlash
However, following the attack in IIOJK, Chopra faced strong backlash for extending the invitation to Nadeem, even though it had already been unlikely that the Pakistani athlete would attend.
“Much has been said about my decision to invite Arshad Nadeem to the Neeraj Chopra Classic — most of it filled with negativity and abuse,” Chopra, who secured gold in Tokyo and silver in Paris, stated in a social media post on Friday.
“My invitation to Arshad was purely from one athlete to another — nothing more. The vision behind the NC Classic was to welcome the best athletes to India and establish our country as a hub for top-tier international sporting events.
Strained political relations
“Given what has happened in the last 48 hours, Arshad’s participation in the NC Classic is now completely out of the question.”
Media outlets reported that Nadeem, Pakistan’s first individual Olympic gold medallist, had already chosen not to take part in the Bengaluru event due to a scheduling conflict with his preparations for the Asian Championships in South Korea next month.
Strained political relations between the two nations have also impacted the sporting world earlier this year, as India’s cricket team refused to travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy, instead playing all their fixtures — including the final on 9 March — in Dubai.
