India’s Neeraj Chopra rules out Pakistan javelin hero Arshad Nadeem presence in Bengaluru meet

NEW DELHI: India’s Olympic javelin star Neeraj Chopra said it was now “completely out of the question” that rival Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan will attend his meet in Bengaluru next month following Tuesday’s attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK).

Relations between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan have plummeted to their lowest level in years after the killing of 26 tourists on Wednesday, for which India is blaming Pakistan.

A day before the attack, Chopra had announced that the world’s top throwers, including Paris Olympics champion Nadeem, had been invited to the first Neeraj Chopra Classic on May 24, an event he hoped would pave the way for a Diamond League meet in India one day.

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However, the attack in IIOJK prompted heavy criticism of Chopra’s decision to invite Nadeem, even though it was unlikely the Pakistan thrower was going to attend.

“There has been so much talk about my decision to invite Arshad Nadeem to compete in the Neeraj Chopra Classic, and most of it has been hate and abuse,” Chopra, who won gold in Tokyo and silver in Paris, said in a social media post on Friday.

“The invitation I extended to Arshad was from one athlete to another — nothing more, nothing less. The aim of the NC Classic was to bring the best athletes to India and for our country to be the home of world-class sporting events.

“After all that has taken place over the last 48 hours, Arshad’s presence at the NC Classic was completely out of the question.”

Media reports said Nadeem, Pakistan’s first individual Olympic gold medallist, had opted not to attend the Bengaluru meet, which clashed with his training schedule for the Asian Championships in South Korea next month.

The soured relations between the two countries also spilled over to the sports world earlier this year when India’s cricket team refused to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy and played all their matches, including the March 9 final, in Dubai.