Asian Games | Sports always teaches us to unite people, says Neeraj Chopra

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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After winning the historic gold medal at the Asian Games, Neeraj Chopra has mentioned that sports always teaches to unite people. He also stated that he was consumed by the national anthem so much that he didn't even realise being surrounded by Pakistan and China athletes during the medal ceremony.

Chopra has been one of India's finest athletes for more than a year by getting success in many prestigious events all around the world. He broke the national record after a brilliant throw of 88.6m and won gold in the javelin throw at the recently concluded Asiad in Jakarta. Earlier this year, Chopra had clinched gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games by getting a distance of 86.47m. The Haryana athlete has said after the achievement that sports are all about uniting people.

“Sports always teaches us to unite people, to be good towards your competitors. Sports is not meant to show hatred to others,” Chopra told PTI.

China’s Liu Qizhen (82.22m) and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (80.75m) clinched the silver and bronze medals respectively in the final and during the medal ceremony, the Indian was flanked by the Pakistani and Chinese athletes. A picture from the moment with Nadeem shaking hands with Chopra went viral on social media.

“I did not realise (at that moment) that I was standing with them. Seeing the tri-colour and with the rendering of the national anthem, I was becoming emotional, remembering the struggle and hard work I have done to reach to this stage,” mentioned the gold medalist from Haryana.

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza tweeted the picture of Chopra and Nadeem praising their sportsmanship.

Chopra, who became the first Indian athlete to win an Asian Games gold in the event, was also asked about to compare his two great achievements this year.

“I cannot choose between the two, both are significant and I am happy about that. The CWG effort was also a national record of that time, it was more than my junior world record throw for the first time and also the first gold of a major multi-sporting event. In Jakarta, it was a bigger throw of over 88m and I am really happy to have done that distance. But I will not choose one over the other,” the 20-year-old said.

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