Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem was moving around with my Javelin: Neeraj Chopra

Neeraj Chopra has been the toast of the nation ever since he ended India's drought of an Olympic medal in athletics, winning the gold medal in men's javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 23-year-old from Haryana threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m in his second attempt to earn the top spot on the podium.

Now more than 20 days after his historic gold, Neeraj Chopra has opened up to the media about something rather funny. The Olympic champion said that his good friend from across the border, Arshad Nadeem, was moving around with his javelin during the Olympic final and he had to ask it back from the Pakistani athlete before his first throw.

"I saw Arshad Nadeem was moving around with my javelin. Then I told him, 'Bhai give this javelin to me, it is my javelin! I have to throw with it.' He gave it back to me. That's why you must have noticed I took my first throw hurriedly," Neeraj Chopra said to Times of India.

Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem have been good friends off the field since quite some time. The duo's photo from the 2018 Asian Games podium is something that still brings the fans from both the rival countries together. In fact, Arshad has time and again mentioned how he looks up to Neeraj as his idol.