Pakistan, India set to face off in an Olympics final after 57 years

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India are set to meet each other in the final showdown of an Olympic event after a gap of 57 years as their star javelin throwers, Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra, respectively, have advanced to the medal stage after topping their respective groups of the Men’s Javelin Throw event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The javelin event final is set to take place on August 7.

Chopra was the first to qualify for the finals as he hurled a massive 86.65m throw in his first attempt of the Group A qualification contest. The 23-year-old also topped the entire qualification event.

Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan's last Olympics medal hope, qualifies for javelin throw final

Just an hour later, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, in his second attempt, displayed a stunning show and threw a distance of 85.16m that put him on the top of the Group B qualification event. The throw also placed him at the number three position in both the groups combined, behind Chopra and world number 1 Johannes Vetter of Germany.

It was in 1964* that the two neighboring countries last faced each other in the final of an Olympics event when the Indian hockey team defeated Pakistan. In 1968, Pakistan beat Australia to win gold, while India were knocked out in the semi-final stage.

In 1960, Pakistan had beaten India to win the Olympic gold medal.

The earlier version of the story, taken from wires service APP, had said that Pakistan and India are set to contest an Olympics final after 53 years. The Business Recorder team verified the facts, and, according to the official Olympics result, Pakistan and India contested in the final at the 1964 hockey final. The error is regretted.