Chopra & Nadeem's mothers set example in Indo-Pak sporting rivalry
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New Delhi/Karachi: "Gold jis ka hai, wo bhi hamara he larka hai. Yeh baat sirf aik maa he keh sakti hai. Amazing."
The usually rabble-rousing Shoaib Akhtar had just the right words to sum up the warm sentiments after mothers of champion javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem called each other's sons their own following a historic Olympic final in Paris.
The warmth they exuded was a refreshing change from the often vile discourse that accompanies any India-Pakistan sporting showdown, fuelled by the ever-outraged keyboard warriors on social media.
Nadeem beat the defending champion in Paris. Chopra clinched a silver medal with a season's best throw of 89.45m after Nadeem pulled off an Olympic record-breaking effort of 92.97m on Thursday night.
Instead of bitterness, their were celebrations in both the countries and the both Saroj Devi and Razhia Parveen deserve some credit for changing the discourse.
"We are very happy with the silver, the one who got gold is also our child and the one who got silver is also our child....all are athletes, all work hard," Chopra's mother Saroj Devi said in Khandra, Panipat, where the family is based.
With the silver win, Chopra became only the third Indian and the first in track-and-field to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals.
Nadeem, on the other hand, became Pakistan's first individual Olympic gold-medallist. It was also the first time that he bested Chopra but the two shared a customary embrace at the end of the fierce competition.
"Nadeem is also good, he plays well, there is no difference between Neeraj and Nadeem. We got gold and silver there is no difference for us," Saroj Devi added in the interview on Thursday night.
Both Chopra and Nadeem are good friends off the field despite the on-field rivalry.
In Khanewal village of Pakistan's Punjab, Nadeem's mother Raziah Parveen echoed the sentiment shared by Saroj Devi.
"They are not only friends but brothers and I also pray for Neeraj that he gets more success," she told a channel.
"Neeraj is also like our son and I pray for him that he wins medals. Winning and losing is part of sport but they are like brothers," he added.
She isn't off the mark. Chopra stood up for Nadeem when he became the target of social media trolls after a short clip of him sifting through javelins during the Tokyo finals was portrayed as an attempt to tamper Chopra's equipment.
The Indian also offered him support when Nadeem resorted to crowd-funding to finance a new javelin after the one he had was worn out following years of use.
The two have repeatedly set the bar high in how sportsmen ought to conduct themselves and it was little surprise that the women displayed genuine affection for both the men.