Neeraj Chopra’s Heartwarming Gesture Towards Pakistan’s Ashraf Nadeem Without Flag at World Athletics Championship Goes VIRAL | WATCH VIDEO
Budapest: Neeraj Chopra bought his best game to the fore as he clinched the elusive gold at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest on Sunday. But what happened after his 88.17 m attempt was heartwarming. While Neeraj came first, Pakistan’s Ashraf Nadeem finished second. During the presentation ceremony when the athletes had to take to the podium, Neeraj had the Indian tricolour and Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, who finished third had his national flag – unfortunately, Nadeem was without a flag. On seeing this, Neeraj asked Nadeem to join him. Nadeem obliged and stood in front of the Indian flag. The gesture from Neeraj is now winning applause.
Watch the viral video:
Watch Neeraj Chopra inviting Silver medalist Arshad Nadeem (likely without flag) under Bharat’s #AkhandBharat pic.twitter.com/Hy9OlgKpTE
— Megh Updates (@MeghUpdates) August 28, 2023
Meanwhile, three Indians finished in top eight with Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14m) taking the fifth and sixth spots respectively. Never before did three Indians finish in top eight of an event in the World Championships.
The 25-year-old Chopra had a foul to start with, but then got 88.17m, 86.32m, 84.64m, 87.73m and 83.98m. Pakistan’s reigning Commonwealth Games champion Arshad Nadeem took the silver with his season’s best throw of 87.82m, while Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic got the bronze.
Chopra has now become only the second Indian — after legendary shooter Abhinav Bindra — to simultaneously hold the Olympics and World Championships title. Bindra won the World Championships title when he was 23, and the Olympics gold at 25.
It was India’s third medal at the World Athletics Championships. Anju Bobby George won a bronze in 2003 and Neeraj Chopra won silver last year. With this gold, Neeraj Chopra had won gold medals in all competitions – Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Diamond League.